Flightless Dawn
by Flightgirl
Summary: Angel is dead, Fang blames Max, and the flock is falling apart. None of them are the same. Things go even more downhill when they happen across the 'empty' Cullen house and meet certain vampires. Later, they meet a few more vampires with a bigger secret.
1. Empty Cupboards

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or Maximum Ride.**

Chapter 1

Empty Cupboards

**Max's POV**

Ever since the incident in Venice, Fang had been more distant than he ever was, especially with me. I think he blamed me for not deactivating Angel's expiration time-bomb before it was too late.

Angel's death had put a rift between the whole flock, really. Gazzy hadn't exploded since then, Iggy had stopped cooking for us, Fang's become a jerk, and Nudge simply denied to herself that it ever even happened. As for me, I just kept trying to push her still, lifeless face out of my mind. And then there's poor Total, who'd been taking it harder than all of us put together. If only I had gotten there before they…

But it was too late to do anything about it. All we could do was keep going, keep hidden, keep safe. I still had to protect the flock, even if we were one less of one.

"We'll touch down in a few minutes," I called over my shoulder to the others. Only Nudge even acknowledged that I said anything, even though I knew they all heard me. _They're probably all just tired_, I lied to myself. We'd been flying for hours without any breaks or food or water, and man was it hot! I don't think any of us cared, though.

In a few minutes, the heat was blocked out by a sheet of grey, fluffy clouds. Below us, a short distance ahead, I could see a small, green town. "I'll fly ahead and scout," I yelled back. Without giving them a chance to answer or protest (which they wouldn't have anyways), I sped up my flight and left them behind.

Circling the town, I decided it was too risky to just plunk down in a tree somewhere and call it a night. We'd have to find a house or something. It wouldn't be a bad idea to get some grub anyways.

_Grub, _I repeated in my head with a slight smile, thinking back to the birdseed in Miami. How we had laughed! I could remember it like it was yesterday, the individual sniggers and howls of the whole flock, from the oldest to the youngest. Me to Angel…

"_It wasn't your fault, Max."_

"_Hi Voice," _I replied solemnly. _"Long time, no hear." _

"_You might want to look in front of you," _it replied.

I looked ahead just in time to swerve upwards to avoid smacking into the side of a big, three-storey white house. _"You could have warned me sooner!"_ I told it angrily. _"I could have been hurt! Who would have protected the flock then?"_

The Voice ignored me. I perched on the roof to cool off before continuing my search when I realized why I hadn't seen the house sneaking up on me. All the lights were off, there was no vehicle in the driveway, and it was concealed by many trees: the perfect hideout, assuming no one was inside. Just to be sure, I flew to every window, including the giant one that made up the entire back wall of the house, and took a quick glance in before heading back to Fang, Gazzy, Iggy, and Nudge.

I returned to the house with the others in just a matter of minutes, and once again double-checked to make sure it was empty before we alighted on the front porch. The door was locked, but Nudge opened it easily enough with her ability and we quietly entered.

Instinctively, we moved slowly across the room, to avoid any possible encounters with a dog. We kept our wings ready and the door in sight, just in case. Total kept sniffing the air and making a funny face until I asked what was wrong.

"It smells funny in here," he replied in a whisper. "I don't like it."

"You don't smell any dogs or animals though?"

"I don't know. I don't _think_ so, but like I said, it smells funny."

After establishing that the house was empty, Nudge and Gazzy headed for the fridge while Fang and Iggy went for the cupboards. I watched them without expression, thinking of how there should have been one more raiding this stranger's house for food.

Suddenly, I heard Fang say loudly, "What gives? There's no food!"

Gazzy added, "What kind of person has a fridge full of nothing?"

"Vampires?" Iggy said jokingly.

Nudge ran to me in fear and I glared at Iggy, even though he couldn't see me. "Vampires don't exist, right Iggy?" I asked with ice in my voice to reflect what my eyes would have told him if he could see.

"Sorry Nudge," he replied. "I was only joking about the vampires."

"This place is a no go, Max," Fang said to me. "We ought to just see if there's any dough lying around and beat it out of here. Who knows? There might've been some kind of alarm system built into this place."

"If the cupboards and fridge are empty," I replied, "I doubt there will be any money either. Let's just go."

"I'm still hungry," Nudge complained.

"I know. We'll find something else. I promise."

Suddenly, Iggy hushed us.

"What?" I asked.

"Sshhh!" he hissed.

We stood for half a moment in silence before we heard a very soft thump come from the floor above us.

"We're leaving!" Fang whispered, turning towards the door.

It suddenly slammed shut, and Fang backed away. From what seemed out of nowhere, an impossibly handsome, pale, topaz-eyed boy appeared in front of the door, blocking our way. He didn't look much older than me, Fang, or Iggy, but appearances could be deceiving. If we didn't know that by now, who did? His jaw was set at an angry/serious angle, and his eyebrows were lowered to an intimidating stare.

Fang stepped up again boldly. "Step aside," he said coolly, showing no fear.

The newcomer just stood there, glaring.

"I said," Fang continued, taking another step forwards, "move."

"Don't come any closer." The boy's voice was hard and cold.

"Listen man, I don't want to hurt you, and I don't want to see anyone else hurt either. We're sorry we invaded your house, and we were just leaving."

"You're not going anywhere." Still he stood, unmoving.

"Fang…" I whispered urgently as the others came and stood beside me.

"I got this," he replied to me, keeping his eyes on our new enemy. "So I guess the School decided to give their new droids a test run," he taunted, walking another step. "Well, we beat the Erasers, the Flyboys, those robot-thingies and everything else. You shouldn't be a problem."

I watched Fang's body tense before he leapt—or rather, flew—into action. He headed straight towards the obstacle, ready to take down whatever was in his way. Imagine my horror when I saw him thrown backwards on impact with the newcomer's hand and fly past us and into the staircase, and not with his wings, either. It was more like _on_ his wings.

I waited for Fang to get back up so I could ridicule him for acting so stupid, but he didn't. I waited for what seemed like forever (but was probably only a few seconds) for him to get up, but there was no movement at the stairs.

I stared at the pale figure in front of us with horror. His expression hadn't changed. He still stood there like a drone obeying orders. _You killed him,_ I thought towards him, as though thoughts could express how I felt.

"He'll be fine," he replied coldly, as if reading my mind. "He'll get up any second."

When he didn't, I thought I saw a small flicker of worry cross his face. "Go check on him," he ordered me.

I turned slowly, keeping my eyes locked with his until my back was completely to him. Then I shouted, "To the back!" and the flock and I took off at full speed for the glass wall. I grabbed Fang on the way by and hit the wall first, shattering the glass so that Iggy, Nudge, or Gazzy wouldn't have to, and flew for freedom.

The flight lasted a total of two seconds. Before I had even cleared the enormous window, I felt an iron grip on my ankle that hauled me back inside, Fang and all. I hit the floor hard, with Fang landing on top of me. The other three hadn't even made it to the window. I pushed him off me, gently, and realized he was bleeding. The back of his black T-shirt glistened with the dark red liquid, and now my shirt was stained with it, too.

I was terrified. I admit it. But my terror grew when suddenly a blond monster with topaz eyes leapt towards Fang with a savage snarl. My first instinct was to pull Fang to safety, or to get in front of whatever was after him. The second option was easier, but possibly more dangerous. Whatever.

Turns out my heroism wasn't needed. Before it could reach us, two more pale-skins joined the party. I saw then that the monster was also human-looking, but I knew by then that they weren't humans at all. I didn't think they were even from the School.

"Sorry Ed," one of the two holding the savage said to the one who had blocked the front door. "We couldn't hold him any longer. I think we got it now, though."

The one who had spoken was tall, burly, and extremely muscular, with slightly curly dark hair and dimpled cheeks. The other one holding the blond one was small, with short, spiky black hair. They both had topaz eyes as well.

I saw Nudge and Gazzy cling to Iggy beside me as they watched the horrifying spectacle. I stayed by Fang's unmoving body, frightened and crying.

"_Maybe this is all a misunderstanding…" _came the unmistakable voice of Voice.

"_Shut up, Voice!" _I didn't feel like talking to him.

I felt impossibly cold and strong arms grab me from behind and begin to pull me away from Fang, and no matter how hard I kicked, screamed and fought, I couldn't break loose. I couldn't even come close to breaking loose. I saw another girl—an astoundingly beautiful girl with long, wavy blond hair, also with topaz eyes—pull Gazzy, Iggy, and Nudge away from Fang as well.

_They're going to let him eat him! _I thought in horror, thinking back to Iggy's earlier statement about vampires. _But vampires don't exist,_ I told myself over and over.

I watched in relief when the two holding the struggling beast pulled him outside and away from Fang, but my relief was cut short when another pale-skinned man with topaz eyes—this one as tall as the first, with blond hair and a slender but muscular build—knealt by Fang.

"Get away from him!" I screamed in rage, fighting to get away from the arms restricting me.

The man beside Fang ignored me and lifted Fang's eyelids, peering into each eye. "I thought you said you could handle it without hurting anyone, Edward," he said to the first one we had encountered.

"It wasn't supposed to hurt him that bad," the one called Edward replied. "Can I help it if the thing flew at me like that? It was self-defence."

"You knew he couldn't hurt you."

"Didn't you hear what I said? He _flew_ at me! Do you not see the wings? I wouldn't know if they could hurt us or not!" Edward declared. "Besides, that shouldn't have hurt him real bad. It wouldn't keep a human down for more than thirty seconds."

The front door suddenly burst open, but I couldn't see who had entered.

"Carlisle, what happened?" A new, unmistakably male voice asked urgently. "I saw Alice and Emmett trying to calm Jasper, and the widow's broken, and—" He stopped mid-sentence. "Who are these kids?"

Edward spoke up, "That's Iggy, Nudge, the Gasman, Maximum…" he pointed to the still figure on the floor, "and that's Fang."

The newcomer joined the man beside Fang, coming into my view for the first time. He was extremely tall (I would guess around six and a half feet), with dark, russet skin, black hair, and dark eyes, with a toned and muscular build, and he looked to be in his mid to late twenties; very unlike the others that we had encountered that night.

I was too angry, upset, and scared to care. "Leave him alone," I seethed, making my anger clear to everyone in the room.

Once again, they ignored me.

"Is he going to be alright?" the darker-skinned one asked.

Why did he care?

The blond one they called Carlisle mumbled something in response and said to whoever was holding me, "Esme, go get something to clean him up with."

"But the girl…" the woman Esme said.

"Let her go. She won't go anywhere without him. And even if she tries to, Edward's hands are free."

Immediately, the iron hands holding me released and I ran to Fang's side, avoiding any eye contact with the monsters who had caused this.

"It was an accident," Edward said, and I knew he was talking to me.

I didn't believe him.

"_He may be telling the truth."_

"_Shut up, Voice."_

I felt someone kneel beside me, and although I forced myself not to look, I knew who it was.

"Honestly, Dad, I didn't mean to."

His voice was pleading and sincere, and if I hadn't been so mad I might have believed him.

I worked up the courage to say something. "How is he?"

"He has a mild concussion," Carlisle said without looking at me. After a moment, he looked up at me and saw the worry in my eyes. "He'll be fine. Don't worry." He turned to the blond girl keeping the other three out of the way. "Rosalie, take the kids someplace. Upstairs, maybe. Or outside. Anywhere. Jacob and Esme will help me here."

"What about me?" Edward asked from beside me.

"You can stay if you want, but you could help Bella and Nessie on their hunt if you would rather."

Jacob suddenly turned to Carlisle. "Is she avoiding me?"

"I'm not answering that. That's between you and her."

Jacob rolled his eyes. "I knew you were the greatest physician in the world, but since when did you become my psychiatrist? Expanding your field?"

Hearing that this Carlisle guy was the best doctor in the world lifted my spirits a little, though it probably wasn't true.

The three pale people who had left the house earlier returned now, the blond one looking apologetic. "Sorry. I wasn't expecting that, or I would've held my breath."

"It's alright," Edward replied. "I wasn't expecting it either."

"It is _not_ alright!" I snapped at him, tears of rage flowing down my cheeks. "Fang might have died because of you! He still might die! Just because Daddy Dearest is a great doctor doesn't mean that every wound can be healed or every disease cured! If it did, Fang wouldn't be in this situation!"

Edward flinched at my outburst, and I was glad I had struck a nerve.

"I'll go with Rosalie," he said quietly, standing and following the girl with my flock. I watched contentedly as he sulked away, then turned my attention back to Fang, who hadn't moved since I pushed him off me.

"I'm so sorry, Fang," I whispered, pushing his hair off of his forehead with my fingers.

"He will be okay," Carlisle tried to assure me.

Esme came down the stairs with a cloth soaked with something and a roll-up bandage and joined us.

"Why don't you three go for a walk?" she suggested to Emmett, Alice, and Jasper. Without a word, the three of them left.

"We have to turn him over so I can dress his wound," Carlisle said. "Careful, though. I think a few ribs are broken. Esme, turn him slowly and very gently so we don't move the ribs. And hold your breath."

The woman did as he instructed and turned Fang ever so carefully. His wigs spread across the floor. Carlisle cut Fang's shirt off and examined his back. I had to turn my head away for a moment, but when I looked back I saw that it wasn't too bad after all. Most of the wound was only scraped, and the parts worse than that were just splintered from the wooden steps that he had hit. There was one splinter that stuck an inch into his back, but it went in diagonally so even it didn't leave a ver deep wound. He had a few scratches from the glass wall, but it was mostly a scrape that bled a lot. He had a red and slightly bloody lump on his head from where he hit the stairs, but it did not seem serious. I hoped beyond all hope that it wasn't serious.

When Esme put him down again, though, it was easy to tell that he was hurt worse than I hoped. His whole chest was bruised purple, blue, green, and red, especially in the hand-shaped area where he had made contact with Edward. Besides the bruise, I couldn't help but to notice the three parallel pink scars that were forever Fang's souvenir of one of our encounters with Ari, my Eraser brother. Carlisle ran his fingers across the bruise very lightly, feeling for breaks like I had seen Iggy do many times before.

"Only three are broken," Carlisle said finally, "but not too bad. They would have been if Edward had hit him any harder. They haven't moved too much yet, so if we wrap them tight enough, they should heal quite nicely. He'll be sore for a while, though."

As if on cue, Fang moaned slightly and opened his eyes to very thin slits, then closed them again. I grabbed his hand to try to keep him from slipping away again.

"Fang!" I called to him. He remained motionless. I yelled louder. "FANG!"

He flinched at the shrillness of my voice and groaned again. I waited impatiently as his eyes flickered open again. "Max?" he asked hoarsely. Then he saw the strangers and his eyes opened wider as he tried to sit up and back away.

"It's okay, son," Carlisle said soothingly, gently pushing Fang back to the floor. "We're not going to hurt you."

"It's too late to say that," Fang muttered, his eyelids drooping again. "I feel like I flew into a brick wall."

"That probably would have done less damage, actually," Esme said.

Fang nodded slightly and closed his eyes, then opened them wide again, and once more tried to sit up. "Where's Gazzy, Iggy and Nudge?" he asked in panic. The effort of sitting up was too much for him, and he fell back down.

"Your friends are fine," Jacob replied. "One of our friends just took them out for a little while."

"Oh," Fang said, as though it was the most natural thing in the world. For the first time since he woke, he looked around at the three strange faces leaning over him. "Who are you people?"

Carlisle smiled down at him. "I'm Carlisle Cullen; this is my wife Esme and our friend Jacob."

"Where's the one that attacked me?"

"That was Edward. He went off to give your girlfriend some space."

"She's not my girlfriend," Fang replied, and I noted a hint of ice in his voice.

"There are more of us," Esme said to Fang, trying to make him aware of everything that was happening, "but they all went for a walk or something. We can introduce you when they get back."

"Fine," Fang mumbled, and his eyes closed again.

I squeezed his hand nervously and turned to Carlisle, looking for reassurance.

"He'll be fine," he repeated. "He's just sleeping now. He needs his rest." He picked up Fang and began to carry him up the stairs, but stopped and turned to me first. "Don't worry, Max. You're among friends now."

Yeah, right.


	2. Small Talk

**Thanks guys, for the reviews! I already had the second chapter written so here it is. It's considerably shorter than the first, but hey. There's a couple more Twilight characters… Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: These characters are not mine.**

Chapter 2

Small Talk

**Edward's POV**

I felt like crap. That bird girl hated me, Carlisle was angry at me, I'd caused Jasper to go on one of his blood rampages, and worst of all; I nearly killed a kid. When Bella found out, she would probably be mad at me. Same with Nessie. They would all hate me. I hated me.

Well, I didn't really hate me. I just felt like I did at that moment. The three bird kids with Rosalie and I avoided looking at me at all costs, and I could tell they were all afraid of me and mad at me at the same time. The scene played itself out over and over again in their heads, which meant it did in mine, too.

Rosalie was mad at me, as well. Today was supposed to be a date-night with Emmett for her, but because of me, she got stuck babysitting instead.

I tried to make small talk with the kids.

"So…Iggy, how long have you been blind for?" I asked stupidly.

"A while," he muttered. "It's not really any of your business."

He was right. I changed the subject.

"Are you three siblings?"

The small boy with blond hair turned and glared at me. "Listen, freaky-pale-faced-psycho-thing, you can lay off with the small talk. We already know that you know about us, because all the School's drones know about us. You can drop the nice-guy act, because it doesn't work anymore. I don't care if you're programmed to act all nice and sensitive before you pounce on your prey, but it's super annoying! It's like when snakes tickle you with their tongue before they bite you. You know it's gonna happen, but you play with them anyways. In case you're missing the analogy, you're the snake, and I don't like snakes!"

"Me, neither," I said back to him. "They taste like rubber and they're not very filling."

He looked at me like I was completely missing the point before he whipped around again and continued after Rose.

I noticed the girl hadn't said a thing since I saw her the first time. I guess that was because she was terrified of me. I couldn't really blame her: she had just witnessed me throw her brother across my house. Her thoughts kept moving between Fang and the School that they all kept talking/thinking about. I felt that I had to establish that I wasn't from there.

"I'm not a student there," I told them, hoping it would make them feel less uneasy. Instead, they just looked confused.

"What did he just say?" Iggy asked the others.

Nudge laughed. "He said he's not a student!"

Gazzy and Iggy joined in on the laughter. Even Rosalie let out a snicker, though she didn't know what they meant by 'School', either.

I tried to see why it was so funny to them, but all I got was something about birdseed in Miami. Presently, the smaller boy stopped laughing and his thoughts shifted to a girl named Angel; she was about six, I could tell, and seemed to be close to Gazzy.

I asked him, "Who is Angel?"

Gazzy turned to me angrily and the other two stopped laughing as well. "You know exactly who she is, and you have no right to talk about her," he said with a voice as cold as ice. "Angel was harmless and innocent, only a little girl, and your boss the School is what killed her. It's your fault she's gone. Don't insult me by pretending to not know who she is!"

Frankly, I was shocked by his outburst. I didn't think a simple question would cause such anger to go through him. I was really just curious and trying to get to know these kids a little better. Rosalie turned and glared at me, telling me with her mind to drop the subject and stop digging into their personal lives.

"I just thought I heard you mention her," I mumbled in response.

"That brings up another question," Iggy said. "How do you know our names if you're not from the School, as you claim? Only the people who read Fang's blog know our names, but they don't even know what we look like or anything _besides_ our names."

"Uh…"

"And why are you suddenly so interested in our lives? Usually, the only ones interested in us want to either use us as slaves or lab rats, or they just want to kill us," Nudge said suspiciously.

"No, we don't want to kill you or use you as lab rats," Rosalie said quickly, still glaring at me.

"Well, what do you want with us?" Iggy demanded. "You say you're not from the School, you don't want to kill us or experiment on us. You haven't called the cops to report us for breaking-and-entering. You're helping Fang after you hurt him, but you're also keeping us from going anywhere."

"You can appear out of nowhere," Nudge added, "and you're all really cold."

"And creepy," Gazzy stated. "You know all our names, even though we haven't told you them, and you know about Angel. These aren't just coincidences."

They waited for me to explain, but I couldn't without telling them what we were. And if they knew, we'd either have to kill them or turn them.

I heard my name a second before I was tackled. Saved by Bella. We climbed to our feet again, laughing, and Renesmee ran up to join us, too.

"Hi Dad!" she said, giving me an iron hug. Then she broke away, noticing the three kids for the first time. "Who are they?"

Bella's eyes asked the same question, and I answered, "Their names are Iggy, Nudge, and Gazzy. Max and Fang are inside. They're bird people."

"I don't appreciate you announcing that to the world," Iggy said. "We're not tourist attractions."

"Bird people. Cool," Nessie said. "Where are the wings?"

"Not for viewing of the general public," Nudge replied coldly.

Just then, Jacob came prancing out of the house and up to Renesmee.

"Oh no," she said, rolling her eyes. "Here comes the love-struck puppy."

"Hi Nessie!" Jacob said excitedly when he reached us. "How was the hunt? Was it fun? Did you get anything? I could've gone with you, you know, if you'd have told me you were going. You'll never guess what you missed! Fang was like, _whoosh_, and Edward was like _bam_! And Max was like _'No!' _and Edward was all _'it was an accident!' _and Max was like _'Doctors can't fix everything!'_." He grinned broadly. "It was exciting! I made sure I got all the details so you wouldn't feel left out of the action. Mind you, _I_ wasn't there for all of it. I got here at the last when Max was all angry at Edward for hurting her boyfriend, but Fang insisted that he's not really her boyfriend. I think they have relationship issues. But hey, not every relationship can be as perfect as ours, huh Nessie?"

"Yeah…" Nessie looked from me to Bella, then back to Jacob. "Thanks. I feel included in the action now." She was being sarcastic, but Jacob didn't notice.

He turned to me. "Carlisle wants to see you."

Great.

I went in the house, and Carlisle was waiting for me in the living room.

"Sit down," he said when he saw me enter. I did as I was told.

"You pulled a stupid stunt today," he told me.

"Yeah. I know," I replied.

"It could have been handled differently."

"I know."

He sighed. "Luckily, the damage wasn't too bad. He'll be fine."

I was relieved. I don't know what I would've done if I had killed him.

I heard someone else enter the room and looked to see Max, the blond haired girl with anger issues towards me. She glared.

I felt like I had to apologize again. "I'm really sorry about Fang," I said, trying to make her see that I was. She didn't say anything, but her thoughts said that she didn't believe me.

Without saying anything, she turned and went back upstairs to be with Fang, leaving me to wallow in my misery and shame under the watchful eye of my adopted father.

Bummer.


	3. New Friends or Robots?

**Hey! Here's the third chapter for you guys. I'm glad you all like it! And thanks for all your reviews, guys!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or Maximum Ride**

Chapter 3

New Friends or Robots?

**Max's POV**

I was still really mad at Edward for what he had done to Fang. I didn't know if I would ever forgive him for it. Probably not.

When I got back to Fang's room, I saw another stranger sitting in the chair where I had been a minute before. She had curly hair that was the same colour as Edward's, and she had much of the same facial features as him, too. But her skin wasn't as pale as any of the Cullen's, and her eyes were brown instead of topaz. She looked to be about seventeen, the same age as Fang, Iggy, and me. She looked up when I entered.

"Oh, you must be Max," she said, standing up when she saw me. I nodded. "I'm Renesmee, but you can call me Nessie. Everyone calls me Nessie."

She looked like she felt a little awkward. "I—I just wanted to make sure Fang was okay. I heard what happened…" She shifted uncomfortably. "I guess you probably want to be alone right now, especially since you don't really know any of us." She walked past me and to the door.

I stopped her. I don't know why, but I liked her. "You can stay if you want," I told her. "I wouldn't mind the company."

She turned back to me and smiled. "I'll get another chair."

She left, and in a few moments was back holding a large Lay-Z-Boy above her head with only her two bare hands, and she didn't look strained or anything. I watched in amazement as she eased it through the door and set it down on the floor beside Fang's bed.

When she had finished, she noticed me staring at her. "What?"

"How did you do that?" I asked in a squeaky voice.

She looked at the chair. "Oh. I guess I wasn't supposed to do that with you here, huh?"

At that moment, Jacob entered the room. "Nessie! There you are. Did you make a new friend? She seems nice. Moody beyond belief, but nice. But what have I told you about talking to strangers? Stranger, danger! Remember?"

Renesmee rolled her eyes. "I'm not a little girl anymore, Jacob. I can take care of myself if need be."

Jacob gave her a concerned look. "Big people get abducted, too, you know," he said seriously. "Anyways, I wanted to check on you, to make sure you're okay and not sad or angry or annoyed at all by anything or anyone. You're not, are you? Just tell me if you are and I'll tell whoever or whatever's bugging you to back off."

"Jacob," Nessie said.

"Yes, love?"

"_You're _bothering me."

"Oh…" he said dejectedly. "I'll just go, then."

"No, don't go," I found myself saying. I liked him better than most of the others in this freakishly clean yet freakishly unused house. "Just don't be so annoying."

He grinned and came farther into the room. I saw Total bouncing after him and laughed.

"I see you've found a new playmate, Total," I said.

He looked up at me and grinned. "I like him! He smells cool: kind of like a dog, and kind of like a human. It's weird, but cool!"

"You know this winged canine?" Jacob asked me. I nodded. "I've been wondering where he came from," he continued, smiling. "He's kind of annoying, but he's cute. He's been following me around for a while, trying to sniff me…"

"Total!" I said in a disgusted tone.

"I can't help it," he said defensively. "I feel a connection with him."

Jacob turned his attention to sleeping beauty on the bed. "He's looking better," he said.

"Yeah," I replied, noticing for the first time how handsome Jacob was. I don't usually notice these things about people, but Jacob seemed different. I noticed him.

He met my eyes and I looked away, embarrassed and turning red.

I heard footsteps outside the door and looked over to see the rest of the flock enter. "How is he?" Iggy asked.

"Fine," I said. "He's just sleeping now. He'll be alright."

More people came in: Jasper, Emmett, Rosalie, Alice, and another that I didn't recognize. She had topaz eyes as well, with full lips, pale skin, and dark hair.

The room was getting pretty full.

"Hi Max," the new girl said. "I'm Bella, Edward's wife."

"That psychopath actually got married?" I asked bitterly.

"He's not that bad," Bella said in his defence. "He really didn't mean to hurt Fang."

"You weren't there. You didn't see what happened."

"That's not fair," Alice said. "You've known Edward, what, half an hour? We've all known him for years. You've gotta give him a break."

"I don't have to do anything but protect my family from freaks like you!" I shouted.

Fang moaned. "Can you keep it down a bit, Max? Doc says to get some rest, but how can I with you screaming like that?"

"Sorry, Fang," I said softly, still glaring at Bella.

Total looked around at all the faces in the room. "So…is there any food in his joint? I mean, besides the imaginary stuff in the fridge?"

The topaz-eyed people looked at each other, then at me and the flock. "Um, we don't usually keep food in the house…" Jasper said slowly. "We don't really need to."

"So you are robots?" I asked, some things coming clear.

"_Of course they're not robots," _said Voice.

"_How many times do I have to tell you to shut up?" _I told it angrily.

"_What's the sense on being in your head if you can't hear me?"_

"_What's the sense on you being in my head at all?"_

"_Maybe I'm not in your head," _Voice said. _"Maybe we just think I am."_

"_Shut up, Voice."_

"We're not robots," Jasper said. "We're vam—I mean vegetarians."

"So why is there no food?" Nudge asked.

"Uh…" Suddenly, Jasper looked down to find Total standing in front of him with a leg raised. "Jacob, why is your dog peeing on me?"

"It's not my dog," Jacob said. "It's the bird kids'"

Presently, Total stopped peeing and waited a few seconds. "Nope. They're not robots." He trotted back to Jacob and sat by his feet, proud of himself for relieving the suspicion and his bladder at the same time.

Me, Nudge, and Gazzy started laughing immediately, but poor Iggy asked, "What? What's so funny?"

"Total peed on a vegetarian," Gazzy said between chuckles.

All the topaz-eyed people besides Jasper erupted into laughter as well. So did Jacob and Renesmee.

"It's not funny," Jasper said sulkily. "Now I have to change my pants. And shoes. And socks." He turned and left the room, one shoe squishing as he walked. This brought more laughter, and more complaining from Fang about the noise.


	4. Proposals and Other Problems

**If you guys found the Total peeing on Jasper thing funny, I think you'll get some kicks out of this as well. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own these people or places.**

Chapter 4

Proposals and Other Problems

**Edward's POV**

They seemed to be having a blast upstairs. I could hear their laughter roaring through the house and longed to be invited. I knew, though, that the flock wouldn't appreciate me being there. Especially Max.

So I just sat in the living room, facing Carlisle. Silent. Depressed. Hating myself.

Jasper came down the stairs, thinking something about a stream like a waterfall or something like that. I didn't really care.

"Hey grumpy," Jasper said when he came over, one sneaker squishing.

"I'm not grumpy," I said, not really knowing if it was a lie or not.

"You're right," he replied. "You're kind of a mix between depressed, guilty, angry, gloomy, and…" he paused, "giddy."

"What? I'm not giddy."

"You are now."

I suddenly found that extremely funny and started to giggle uncontrollable.

"Stop messing with my feelings," I said shakily through my laughter.

"Stop being so gloomy. You're bringing me down, man."

I giggled some more and noticed Carlisle's smirk opposite of me. I couldn't stop laughing no matter how hard I tried.

"Jasper," I said while giggling, "why don't you mess with Max's emotions instead. She's the one who's mad at me."

"I don't like to affect strangers," he replied, reaching behind the cushions of the couch.

"What are you doing?" I heard Carlisle ask Jasper.

"I'm looking for socks," he replied. "That stupid little black dog peed on me, and I can't find any clean socks in my dresser." He turned to me. "You don't have any socks, do you Ed?"

I couldn't answer him, on account of my giggling. I guess Jasper was getting annoyed by me, because I suddenly felt myself calming down until my outrageous laughing had completely ceased. I glared at Jasper. "You didn't have to do that, you know. You could have just cheered me up a bit. Or cheered her up a bit."

"That wasn't my primary concern. She wasn't gloomy. I hate it when people are gloomy. Anger, I can deal with. I don't like feeling gloom."

"Sorry."

He suddenly withdrew his hand from the couch and held up a pair of socks triumphantly. "Ah ha! I knew I still had one pair back there."

I stared at him, and Carlisle did likewise. "You actually keep socks in the couch?" I asked.

"Of course," he said in a 'duh!' tone. "You know how you're always looking for things like the remote or a cell phone or your favourite underwear? They always end up in the couch cushions. So, I've been thinking that if we kept all the things that we always lose in the couch _in_ the couch, then we'll never lose them. See?"

Carlisle looked at me. "He has a point."

I looked at him like he was crazy, but he just stared at me like psychiatrists do when your telling them your life story. He did that a lot lately. I think he was practicing.

Jacob came down the stairs then. "Um…Edward? Can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Sure," I said.

He glanced at Jasper and Carlisle. "_Alone?_"

I stood and followed Jacob outside, with Jasper's and Carlisle's eyes following us until the door was closed.

"What do you want?" I asked just to be polite. I already knew, of course.

"Can I marry Renesmee?"

That was blunt.

"That's not my decision," I told him. "That depends on if she wants you." I knew she didn't.

"Oh, she does! I can tell!"

Clueless pup.

"Then go for it, lover wolf."

He trotted off happily in the annoying way that he had developed after falling for mine and Bella's daughter. He was running off, sure that the happiest day of his life was coming up ASAP, but I doubted that was going to happen. The poor kid didn't even realize how annoying his devotion to Renesmee had become, and he was going to ask her to marry him. It was sad, but hilarious.

**Fang's POV**

I woke up again to footsteps, but this time the crowd of freaky pale people were leaving instead of coming in. I was glad for that: you wouldn't believe how much noise they made. Only two people were left in my room when I squinted my eyes open to see what was going on. It was the slightly dark skinned one that I had seen when I first woke up, and there was an EXTREMELY gorgeous babe with brown hair and eyes with him.

As I watched, kind of half out-of-it, the darker guy got down on one knee and protruded a diamond ring. The girl looked confused and disappointed and surprised at the same time, but not happy. I couldn't blame her.

Neither of them moved for at least ten seconds, then the boy asked, "Renesmee Cullen, will you marry me?"

I couldn't take it anymore. "Hello? Anyone remember the hurt bird kid in the bed? I haven't gone anywhere, you know!" I sat up. "Besides, lover boy, that's not how you propose to a girl as fine as that. First of all, in a bedroom with another guy is _not_ the right setting. Second, I don't think you picked the right time to pop out that big question, considering circumstances that have recently arrived. Third, you're being too forceful and too sentimental at the same time. It's not a pity party, dude! She'll either marry you if she wants to, or not if she don't. Don't try to make her feel guilty about wanting to say no. Fourth, you're not even holding the ring right! You don't shove it in her face; you hold it lower as though it's a gift that you're unworthy of giving; because it is!" I stopped only because I was out of breath and tired.

The couple were staring at me now. The boy looked hurt and embarrassed, but the girl was impressed.

"You seem to be quite the romantic," she said to me.

"Whatever," I replied, lying back down with a sigh.

They were both still staring at me. I guess neither could take the hint that I wanted to sleep.

"You can take your date someplace else, now," I said with annoyance lining my voice.

"Good idea," the guy said grudgingly. "Come on, Nessie."

"You can go, Jacob," the one he called Renesmee said without taking her eyes off of me. "I'm going to stay for a minute and talk to Fang."

"I'd rather sleep," I said.

"I'd like to talk to you."

An independent and stubborn girl. Cute.

Jacob stood sadly and left the room, throwing one last angry glare at me before he disappeared around the corner.

Renesmee took a seat in the chair beside me. "I'm glad you're okay," she said after a few seconds of awkward silence.

"I've lived through worse," I replied. We sat in silence for a while longer. "I take it you and Romeo have been going steady for a while?" I asked just to break the silence.

She tensed her fingers and shoved them to her scalp with an aggravated grunt. "He is _so _annoying! He doesn't even realize it, and it drives me _insane_! I mean, I know he loves me and all that, but sometimes—no, _all_ the time—I wish he would just do something to _not _try to make my world perfect. Nothing is worse than a guy who can't let you do anything for yourself and can't leave you alone for _two seconds _of your existence!" She brought her hands down from her head and relaxed. "There," she said calmly. "I finally got that off my chest."

More awkward silence as I stared at her blankly. "Did you want something?" I finally asked.

"I'm just curious about some things," she said, as though completely forgetting her very recent outburst that was still ringing in my ears. "How do you have those wings? You're all, like, angels of something."

I sighed. I really didn't want to explain all that at that moment, but for her, I did it anyways. "Me, Max, Iggy, Nudge, and Gazzy are all part of this experiment that they did on us at the School, where they mixed our DNA with bird DNA and got us. We're not angels: just avian-kids. Our bones are hollow, too. It's kind of cool."

"Wait, you're the bird-kids? _The _bird kids? And you're _the _Fang?"

"Um…yeah…you've heard of us?"

A dazzling smile spread over her face. "Of course! I've read everything there is to read on your blog! I thought something happened to you guys when you stopped writing after you said you were going to Venice a few months ago. By the way, where's Angel? Did you leave her with Max's mom?"

I didn't really know how to respond to that. I searched for words that would make it easier to think about, but all I could come up with was, "She expired."

The smile vanished from her lips. "Oh, Fang… I'm so sorry."

I tried to shrug it off. That was a mistake. Instantly pain shot through my whole entire body, and I wished I had listened to Max before attacking the guy at the door. "It's in the past now. There's nothing we can do about it." My voice cracked, even though I tried _so_ hard to keep it from doing so. I even looked away from Renesmee's beautiful eyes to try to keep the emotions hidden from her.

I felt her take my hand in hers. "You don't always have to be so strong, Fang," she whispered. "You're allowed to miss her."

I felt her gentle eyes on me and couldn't help but look back at her. Her eyes seemed to see inside of me.

"You're even allowed to cry for her," she said softly.

If it had been anyone else who said that to me, even if it had been Max, I would have told them not to be stupid, that I couldn't cry. I would have told them that crying about it does nothing but mess with your judgement in future situations. But with Renesmee, I felt like it was okay, and for the first time in a very long time, I did.

**I'd just like to take this moment to thank all my reviewers. It's nice to finally have someplace I can put my work so that lots of people can see it, and it's nice to feel like my story is appreciated. To all of you out there, THANKS!**

**Luv y'all!**


	5. Evasive Manoeuvres

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in this fanfiction chapter.**

Chapter 5

Evasive Manoeuvres

**Max's POV**

I needed some air. I had already had way too much excitement and too many confrontations for one day, and I had to clear my head. So I took off by myself, flying without any particular destination in mind. I didn't care where I went, so long as I could get away from all the weirdness waiting back at the Cullen house. Turns out my flight only gave me more time to think about everything.

The Cullen's were definitely a mystery. All of them were freakishly beautiful, all of them had oddly pale skin, and every one of them had the same topaz-coloured eyes (Renesmee was the only exception to the last two features). We couldn't hurt them no matter how hard we tried, but they could nearly kill us with just a flick of the wrist. There was no food in the house at all, and yet everything was clean. It wasn't because of poverty, I was sure, because it was a three story house with a sheet of glass for the back wall and it was furnished with the most expensive furniture imaginable. I had seen both a savage side and a sentimental side to them, and I didn't know which side to believe.

These thoughts consumed me as I soared over a field, not too far from the house, and saw a familiar figure walking below me. He seemed in need of some cheering, so I decided to go down and give him some company. I dropped in graceful circles until I touched down in the field behind him.

"Jacob!" I called to him.

He turned around gloomily. "Oh. Hi Max."

"What are you doing out here all alone."

"Being gloomy."

"I noticed that. Why are you gloomy?"

"I asked Renesmee to marry me a little while ago," he said.

"That's great!" I told him with exaggerated excitement. "When's the big day?"

"It's not."

"Oh. I'm sorry to hear that. Why did she say no? You seem like a descent guy."

"She didn't really say no," he replied, "but she didn't say yes either. Before she had a chance to refuse or accept, your brotherly boyfriend butted in and started criticizing my proposal method," he explained. "Renesmee's staying in his room to talk, so I'm stuck by myself for a while. I was just heading back to the pack for the night."

"Whoa, '_Pack_'?" I asked, a bit confused. "One: I thought you lived with the Cullen's, and two: your family is called a 'pack'?"

Jacob looked confused. "I assumed you knew. The Cullen's don't usually take people under their wing—no pun intended—without them knowing who they are."

"So there is something that they're hiding from my flock and me?"

"Apparently. But you'd better talk with them about that. I don't want to get any of them angry at me."

"What about you?" I asked then. "You said you have a pack. What does that mean?"

He smiled. "Do you get scared easy?"

Do I get scared easy? He had no idea how hard it is to scare me. "No."

"Can you keep a secret?"

"Yes."

"Can you not scream?"

"Yes."

"Are you sure?"

"YES!"

His grin widened. "You might want to back up a bit."

"Okay…" I took a few steps back. "Is this far enough?"

He nodded. "That should be good."

I waited. And waited. He seemed to be waiting too.

"Well, are you going to tell me the big secret or what?" I asked.

Jacob looked nervous for some reason. "Now that I think about it, maybe it's not such a good idea."

"Why not?" I asked curiously.

There was a moment of silence. "…Let me go check something first."

"Okay…"

Jacob immediately turned and sprinted towards the far end of the field.

"I'll just wait here, then?" I called after him. He didn't answer because he was too far away. I sighed and paced for a while, watching it get darker out and feeling the temperature drop. After a few minutes, I became impatient. For someone who could run as fast as he could, he sure seemed to be taking his good old time.

Finally, after ten or fifteen minutes, I had all but lost it. What kind of a guy leaves a girl out in the middle of a field in the dark? I decided he was a jerk and got ready for lift-off, when a dark shadow in the corner of my eye stopped me.

"Jacob?" I asked loudly. "Is that you?"

There was no answer.

"Honestly, Jacob, if you're playing some kind of joke—"

I cut myself off when I heard a very small, almost indistinct sound behind me. I whirled around and found myself facing three more abnormally gorgeous pale-skinned people. The one in front was a tall, dark-haired, and kind of creepy. The one on his left (my right) had sandy hair and was a little shorter than the first, but his build was much bigger. The third was a woman, also with sandy hair, and she was shorter than the males. All three of them had freakishly red eyes.

"…May I help you?" I asked cautiously, backing away from the closeness of them.

"What do you think, Max?" the male with brown hair asked.

"What?!" I replied, shocked that this stranger knew my name.

"Shut up! I wasn't talking to you!" he shouted at me.

"I think it's the most interesting smell that I have ever caught wind of," the black-haired one replied. I assumed him to be the leader.

"We have a schedule to keep, remember," the woman said. "We can't go wasting our time with everyone we come across."

"It doesn't hurt to have another little snack on our road trip," the shorter replied. "We haven't eaten in a couple days."

I admit: I was officially weirded out. Did these creeps think _I _was a snack item?

"I suppose you're right," she agreed after a moment's consideration. "But are we sure it's good?"

"Listen, lady," I snapped suddenly. "I don't know who you think you are, or what you think I am, but I don't like the way you're talking about me or looking at me. I'm not food, and you're obviously not sane. So I'm just gonna leave now, and you can take your hunger pains someplace else. Maybe you should seek some psychological attention or something."

"Fiery," the brown-haired one commented to his companions. "I get the first taste."

"Go ahead, Michael," the one with my name said. "You were the one who sniffed her out. Just make sure you save some for Isabelle and me."

That was the last straw. I wasn't about to stand around and let them make food jokes about me. Without even thinking about it, I whirled and took off into the air flying as fast as my wings would allow when jumping into flight. Neither of them made any effort to catch me, so I turned my attention to the dark sky above me. I had to get back to the Cullen's house.

Suddenly, just when I thought I was home free, a glowing green sheet appeared above me and I bounced off of it, springing back down to the ground. I landed on my wings. Hard. One of them got pins and needles in it, like you get when you hit your funny bone.

The three creepy pale people stood over me with smiles on their lips. Boy, how I wanted to wipe it off their insanely beautiful faces.

"I love it when they fight back," the other Max said. "It's so much more interesting."

"Get a move on it, Michael," Isabelle said. "We don't have all night."

"Gladly," Michael replied while reaching for me.

"Look," I said suddenly, stopping Michael for the moment. "I'm flattered you all think I would taste good, but I think the joke's gone far enough. I have a family to get back to and you guys are just standing in the way."

None of them seemed to care.

Michael took a deep breath through his nose and sighed with pleasure before making a move towards me again. I jumped up and backwards, keeping out of his reach. He looked amused and reached for me again. Once more, I jumped out of the way. He reached again, this time a bit faster. I jumped again, this time trying to take off. That move was not very successful. Before I could get over their heads, Michael grabbed my ankle and threw me.

I wasn't sure how long I was spinning in the air like a Frisbee, but there was no mistaking my impact with the tree; I heard it crunch underneath the impact. It was a miracle I hit it with my back instead of head-first. If it had been the other way around, I'm pretty sure I would have died from a broken neck. I was not even sure at that moment that I _wasn't_ dead. Everything went kind of blackish-white with green and red spots.

I heard footsteps approach from in front of me and thought, _This is it, Maximum. You're about to be eaten by red-eyed cannibals. What a way to go. At least you'll be able to see Angel again soon…_

"_Don't think like that," _the unmistakable voice of Voice said. _"Be optimistic. You've been in worse situations."_

"_Worse than this? I don't think so."_

"_You can't give up."_

"_Why not?"_

"_I believe the phrase is, 'Who would take care of the flock then?'"_

He had a point. Angel may have been gone, but I still had a responsibility to Nudge, Gazzy, Iggy, Fang, and even to Total.

"_Fine. Have it your way," _I told him as I pushed myself back to my feet. I launched myself into the air again, only to be blocked again by the weird green sheet. I dodged it, but it followed me until I was surrounded by the trees and the cannibals. The sheet remained over me, but as long as I was in the air they couldn't touch me.

"Bring her down, Max," Michael said. "We've played with her long enough."

The rubber-ish shield keeping me from going higher began lowering towards the ground. Uh-oh. Despite the obstacles, I had to get out of there.

I took off again, darting through and around trees as they came to me, all the while going down with the shield. I was still twenty feet above them when I passed over the one called Isabelle, and then I really would be home free.

Or so I thought. It happened when I was directly over Isabelle. I turned my attention in front of me after flashing a tormenting smile at the woman freak, and all of a sudden she was hanging off of me. I looked down in horror into her vicious, beautiful smile as she slowly dragged me to the ground. She was too heavy for me to fly with.

"Come on, Max!" I shouted to myself. "This is _NOT_ the end!"

I dug deep inside myself and found my inner speed. That was what I needed. I flapped hard several times and sped up to two hundred miles per hour. That was all the speed I dared go in the dense trees, but it was enough. I watched the woman fall the remaining ten feet to the ground with a smile of victory and turned my attention back to what was in front of me…

…Just soon enough to see the thick Maple branch stretch out and make contact with my face. The last thing I saw before the darkness was the three super-powered cannibals leaping at me with a savage snarl.


	6. Turkey Dinner

**I guess I kind of left you guys hanging, huh? Well, because of that, I hurried on getting this one out. One of you said you needed more updateage, so here it is.**

**Disclaimer: Contrary to what it may seem, I do not own any of the characters in this chapter whatsoever.**

Chapter 6

Turkey Dinner

**Jacob's POV**

"_Hurry Edward!" _I called to him. _"They might have already arrived in the field!"_

"I'm coming!" Edward shouted back. "We would go faster if you could go faster! I don't even know where we're going!"

"_It's just up ahead," _I said back. _"In the clearing."_

"Good enough."

Edward took off past me going who knows how fast. I wished I could do that. Sure, in my furry form I could run pretty fast and for quite a while, and it was okay to be the size of a horse, but when someone is in danger it kind of sucks to be leading someone who is way faster than you are.

I reached the clearing a few seconds later and found Edward looking around frantically. "She's not here!" he said.

"_They must have already gotten here,"_ I told him with my thoughts. _"Knowing Max, she probably got away and flew back to the house."_

"Or not," Edward said warily. "How many did you say you smelled?"

"_Three," _I replied. _"I would have taken them on myself, but I don't think even I could stand against three for very long. I needed some help, and you were the first Cullen I found."_

"We have to find her," he stated. "If something happens to her…"

"_Shh!" _I said. _"You're breaking my concentration."_ I listened carefully and sniffed the air, trying to get a sense of which direction to go. Finally, I caught wind of them. And Max.

"_This way!" _I took off east with Edward hot on my heels.

"What's taking the others so long?" he asked.

"_They can't run like us."_

"They need to work out, then. Take cross-country or something."

We entered the forest neck in neck and followed my nose through the trees.

"There!" Edward shouted, pointing and sprinting forwards.

I followed where he pointed and saw the three vampires gathered around Max, ready to feast.

It was showtime.

**Maxwell's POV**

Everything was going great. Isabelle had managed to stop the flying bird kid, who conveniently ran right into a tree and into our hands. Michael had already called first taste, so my sister and I were waiting patiently for him to start. Something about this girl smelled different: I would compare it to a turkey dinner with the works (including, of course, Tabasco Sauce), were I still human. I missed that taste, and so did Michael and Isabelle.

So we were all set to have a nice turkey dinner when out of nowhere a guy with bronze coloured hair pounced on Michael and knocked him away from the girl. Of course, that got mine and Isabelle's attentions. Nobody messed with only one of us, because the others were always looking out for them.

"Get off of him!" Isabelle shouted while leaping for the newcomer. "We saw her first!"

I was about to join in on the fight, but a sudden blur of brown fur tackled me. Werewolves and vampires working on the same team? That was a first.

"Dude, what's your problem?" I heard Michael demand angrily. "We're not hurting you!"

I turned to the werewolf. "Why don't you mind your business, Pup?" I asked.

"That girl _is_ our business," the other vampire hissed. The wolf growled in agreement.

"She's our business now," Michael spat. "Look, we're thirsty, and we've got a long ways to go yet. You can't deny a few fellow vampires a meal that smells that good."

"You can't have her," he growled. "I don't care how good she smells. Now you can either get your snack somewhere else, or you'll have to deal with me and Jacob."

"There are three of us, and two of you," I said. "Who do you think would win?"

"Wrong," came a female voice that did not belong to Isabelle. "There are five of us and three of you."

A vampire woman with brown hair jumped down from the nearest tree, followed by a large male with curly brown hair and a tall vampire with somewhat curly honey-blond hair.

"You alright, Edward?" the woman asked.

"Fine Bella," the first replied. He turned to the werewolf. "Jacob, you get Max."

The wolf nodded and I tensed, ready to defend myself. I didn't know how he knew my name, but I wasn't about to let my shock show. At least, I wasn't planning on it. However, I couldn't hide it when the wolf bounded past me and into the woods, then a boy with slightly dark skin and black hair emerged a shot while afterwards, wearing only a pair of black jeans. He walked over to the girl and knelt beside her, placed two fingers on her neck to check her pulse, then picked her up and walked back into the woods a little ways to wait for the others.

I understood then that the bird girl and I had the same name.

Suddenly, I saw Isabelle smile.

"Edward?" she verified. "Edward Cullen?"

Edward looked at her with confusion, but I immediately knew what she was saying.

"It's me, Isabelle Evans. We had a thing in college?"

Edward was still confused.

"You used to call me your 'Bella'?"

A look of embarrassed realization crossed Edward's face. "Oh…Hi Isabelle." He nodded to me and Michael. "Michael, Max."

The woman accompanying him crossed her arms and glared at Edward. "Your 'Bella'?"


	7. I Dated an Alien

**This chapter is actually focused on Edward and Isabelle's brief relationship and how Bella feels about being the second 'Bella' in Edward's life. It explains who these new vampires are a bit, but not their entire background. Max isn't even in it.**

**As for the flock finding out that the Cullens are vampires…well, that's coming up soon.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight, Maximum Ride, or Roswell**

Chapter 7

I Dated an Alien

**Edward's POV**

"Look, Bella, it was just a fling. There was nothing to it," I tried to convince her.

Isabelle jumped in. "Are you talking to me or your new girlfriend?" she asked.

"Exactly how many 'Bella's' do you have, Edward?" Bella demanded.

"It was a nickname!" I declared. "'Bella' is a lot easier to say than 'Isabelle'."

"Why didn't you call her 'Izzy' or 'Elle' or—"

"It was a spur of the moment thing! I was immature and stupid, and I thought I was in love."

"How do you know you don't just _think_ you're in love with me?" Bella asked harshly.

"He's in love with you, trust me," Jasper jumped in.

"Butt out, Jasper!" Bella and I both said.

"How serious was it, Edward?" Bella asked me.

"Not at all."

"Did it go very far?"

"It would never go very far. She was already married."

Oops. Wrong choice of words. If Bella's heart still pumped blood, she would have been red with rage.

"She was already _married_?!" she shouted. "You dated a married woman?!"

"I didn't _know _she was married," I tried to explain.

"_YOU CAN READ MINDS!!!_"

"I couldn't read hers!"

Wrong choice of words again. Bella looked hurt.

"I thought you said I was the only one whose thoughts you couldn't hear," she said quietly.

"She was different."

"I thought I was different."

I struggled to find the right words without betraying Isabelle's secret. "She was different in a different way."

"A special way," Bella said. "More special than my way."

"No! Just…different."

I saw Max and Michael glare at Isabelle, who looked content at putting a wedge in my relationship with Bella. The two were definitely mad at her for it.

"The relationship was not special," I tried to assure Bella. "It didn't even last a week before I broke it off."

Bella remained silent.

"I'm sorry I never told you before. I just forgot about her."

"I thought vampires never forget anything," Bella said.

"See?" I asked desperately. "Obviously it didn't mean much if I forgot about her!"

"Or you're lying to me."

"He's being very honest with you, Bella," Jasper said. "And he feels really bad about what happened. It's bringing me down."

"Butt out, Jasper."

I saw Max Evans whisper something in Isabelle's ear that made her frown and shake her head. He whispered again, and she nodded reluctantly.

"Bella," Isabelle said, "Edward couldn't read my mind because I kept him from reading it. He didn't know I was married because I didn't tell him."

"But he lied to me about you," Bella replied. "He told me before that mine was the only mind he could not read, and just now he told me that he had forgotten about you. Vampires never forget."

"I'm an alien princess from Antar," Isabelle said bluntly. Bella stared at her. "I kept all of my thought hidden from Edward in college because I didn't want him to find out. At that point I didn't know he was a vampire, but I figured it out one day when I was dreamwalking."

"That's how you figured it out?" I asked. "But I don't sleep."

"You daydream a lot."

"Oh."

Bella was not entirely convinced. "What about your husband? Why would you cheat on him with Edward?"

"He had been waiting for me in Boston ever since Max, Michael, Liz, Kyle, Maria, and I left Roswell. But when I finally got there, he had been convinced by the government people who were after us that we were dangerous and needed to be captured and detained. He had moved to Miami under a different name as part of the witness protection program. He went from being a lawyer to being a cop, and I figured he didn't want me around anymore so I left him alone," Isabelle explained. "Technically, we're still married."

"And Edward forgot about you how?"

"I guess that was because of my alien mind powers. I had asked him to keep it a secret when he found out I was an alien, and I guess to keep it a secret my brain told his brain to forget. Maybe it was because he thought he would never see me again. I don't know."

Bella was not impressed. "Come on! Do you honestly expect me to believe that my husband once dated an alien princess named Isabelle Evans from a planet called Antar? Do you take me for a seven year old?"

"Actually, my alien name is Valandra," Isabelle replied. "Max, Michael, and I are hybrid clones of Zan, Wrath, and Valandra. Max is the king of our planet, Michael is his second-in-command, and I am princess and supposed to be Michael's wife, but we make our own destinies now."

Bella stared at her again. "You're not joking, are you?"

"Not a word of a lie. Or a joke."

Bella turned to me. "I'm sorry, Edward," she said softly.

"I am, too," I replied. "I never meant to keep it from you."

"I know."

I pushed a lock of brown hair out of her face and kissed her gently. She kissed me back, and before I knew what was happening we were enveloped in each other, sharing every fibre of our beings only with each other. I heard Emmett say, "Maybe we should go," and Jasper replied with, "Yeah, before they destroy the forest with us in it."


	8. Bare Chests and Bloodsuckers

**While I'm at it, I might as well post this chapter, too. Save you guys the wait for the flock's reaction.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of these people.**

Chapter 8

Bare Chests and Bloodsuckers

**Maximum's POV**

I woke up with a really bad headache and more bruises than I care to remember. My face was against something warm and strong, and I was cradled in someone's arms. I smiled with my eyes still closed. I knew who it was.

"Hi Fang," I said with a sigh.

"Fang isn't here, Max," someone else said.

I was confused. I recognized the voice, but I couldn't think of who it belonged to. I opened my eyes a crack, but it was too dark to see who was holding me. All I could see was black hair. "Are you sure?" I asked. "You look like Fang."

Whoever it was laughed. "I'm sure I'm not Fang. Fang is still in the bed at the Cullen house."

"Oh," I said. That made sense. If it had been Fang, I would've yelled at him for not getting his rest. "Well, who are you?"

"You don't recognize me?" he asked with a chuckle. I shook my head. "It's me. Jacob."

"Oh," I said simply. I rested my head against his chest again…and then I realized that it was bare.

"Eww!" I shouted and practically jumped out of his arms.

"What?" he asked with concern. "What's wrong?"

"You're naked!"

"Only half," he replied with a shrug. "I have pants on."

"What happened to your shirt?"

"It got ripped."

"So get another one!"

"I didn't have time. You're lucky I have my pants."

"What were you doing that was so time-consuming that you didn't bother getting dressed?" I asked.

"You wouldn't believe me. Just know that it involved saving your life."

"My life didn't need saving," I said. "I had everything under control."

"Not from where I stood. You were a sitting duck out there. If Edward and I hadn't stepped in, you're goose would have been cooked." He smiled at my disapproving frown. "Pardon the puns. I couldn't help myself."

"You should put me down," I said after a moment.

"Uh-uh. I'm not letting you walk on your own until Carlisle has a look at you. You took quite a smash on the skull."

"It's not my fault the tree decided to grow there."

"It's not my fault you decided to run into it," he said in a smart-alecky tone.

"I don't feel comfortable against your nakedness," I told him.

"Get used to it."

I frowned and crossed my arms. Then something Jacob had said came back to me.

"Did you say Edward helped me?" I asked.

Jacob nodded. "He and I were the first to get there."

"How could you two take on those three super-powered cannibals by yourselves?" I asked.

He smiled again. I noticed he did that a lot. "Cannibals?" he inquired. "Did you come to that conclusion on your own?"

"It's the only thing that makes sense. I'd call them vampires, but I know vampires are right up there with non-Eraser werewolves: they don't exist."

Jacob snickered at this. "Kind of like kids with wings, huh?"

I rolled my eyes and continued. "Cannibals, on the other hand, do exist." I raised my head a bit. "Can I tell you a secret?"

"Of course," he replied. "What is it?"

"I think Jasper is a cannibal." There. I said it.

I don't think Jacob quite grasped the seriousness of what I was saying, because he burst out laughing. I thought he was going to drop me because he was laughing so hard.

"I'm serious!" I said.

That just made him laugh harder. "Jasper!...A cannibal!" he said between breaths.

Suddenly, I hear uproarious laughter from behind us, too. I stretched my head to look past Jacob and saw seven beautiful figures walking a small distance behind us. "What are they laughing at?" I asked.

I heard one of them hysterically shout, "Jasper a cannibal! That's a good one!"

I was immediately confused about three things: 1) how did they hear mine and Jacob's conversation, 2) why was I the only one completely missing the joke, and 3) why were the cannibals that tried to eat me walking with Edward, Emmett, Jasper, Bella, and Jacob towards the Cullen house?

"Why are they coming?" I asked Jacob in a whisper.

"That was all a misunderstanding. Those three are Maxwell and Isabelle Evans and Michael Guerin. Edward dated Isabelle in college."

"He dated a cannibal?" I asked. "I always knew he was a creep."

Jacob smiled again (I wished he would stop doing that when there was nothing to smile about), but he said nothing.

"How much longer till we get to the house?" I asked after a minute.

"Not long," he replied. "You can see the lights from here."

"Can't we go any faster?"

"Nope. Your brain has been thrashed around enough today. We're taking the rest of the night nice and easy."

I didn't like the sound of that. I hated taking anything nice and easy.

The next minute went by in silence, but Jacob continued to smile.

"Why are you doing that?" I finally asked.

"Doing what?"

"Smiling. You haven't stopped since I mistook you for Fang."

"Is there something wrong with me smiling?"

"It's kind of creepy."

"Sorry."

He was still smiling.

"Will you stop now?" I asked.

"Stop what?"

"Stop smiling."

"Oh. Nope."

I sighed and tried to keep my eyes off his continuous grin. I focused my eyes on the lights of the Cullen house ahead and waited as patiently as impatience allows for Jacob to take his good old time getting there.

Finally, after what seemed like hours (knowing Jacob, it probably was hours), he finally got to the door and carried me over the threshold like we were entering our first house together: only this wasn't our house and he was only carrying me because he thought I was too weak to stand on my own. I heard Emmett make some smart remark about me and Jacob and I was ready to rip his head off, concussion or not.

At the sight of Jacob, Total pranced over and started sniffing him excitedly. "Hi Jacob!" he said happily. "Where've you been? Were you and Max on a date? Are you married now? Is that why you carried her in the house? Are you on your honeymoon? Is there room for me?"

"Total, be quiet," Jacob said. "Max has been hurt."

Total gasped. "Oh no! Max, are you okay? Do you need a doctor? Are you going to die? If you do, can I have your hot pink bunny T-shirt? Should I get Carlisle?"

"Yes, Total," Jacob said. "Go get Carlisle."

Total ran upstairs while Jacob carried me to the couch and set me down. A few seconds later, nine people and a dog came filing down the stairs sounding like a heard of buffalo: there was Carlisle, Esme, Rosalie, Alice, then Iggy, Nudge, Gazzy, Total, and even Fang managed to get down the stairs with Renesmee's help. At the same moment, the seven from outside came in: Edward, Bella, Jasper, Emmett, Maxwell, Michael, and Isabelle. It was a regular party.

"Max! What happened?" Carlisle asked me.

Before I had a chance to tell him, the other Max butted in. "You see, me, Michael, and Isabelle were on our way to—"

"Oh," Carlisle cut him off. "Maxwell. What are you doing here? And you, Michael, and Isabelle? And why are you all still so young?"

"They're vam—" Jasper started, but stopped himself when Edward poked him in the ribs with an elbow.

The flock and I regarded Jasper curiously to see what his answer to the question not posed to him would be.

"They…" he started again, but I could tell he wasn't sure what to say. He was hiding something from us.

"They're the new testers of…revitalizing facial lotions," Bella cut in. "And contact lenses

Isabelle nodded. "That's right sir," Isabelle said.

"I see," Carlisle said. "I suppose the leading lotion turn your face pale and the contacts are red."

"Yes," Maxwell said. "But neither is very popular."

I couldn't take it anymore. "Would you people stop talking in riddles?" I asked. "Say what you mean and mean what you say, people!"

"What do you mean, Max?" Esme asked.

"Now that's just annoying," I said. "I wasn't born yesterday. I know when secrets are being kept from me."

"None of us were born yesterday," Iggy added. "Even those of us that can't see can tell that something's up. First of all, from all your voices, I can tell that none of your ages are more than ten years apart, and yet the Cullens all call each other brother, sister, mom and dad! That is physically impossible. Second, the only heartbeats I've heard from any of you came from Renesmee and Jacob. That is physically impossible, too," he said.

"You all have the same freaky topaz eyes, except for Renesmee, Jacob, Michael, Isabelle, and Maxwell," Fang said, "and all of you but Jacob are freakishly pale. And I know from experience that at least Edward is abnormally strong. I would be willing to bet that all of you are not what you seem."

"Just like you," Emmett said. "Well, I guess we all have our secrets."

"Ours isn't even a secret anymore," Nudge pointed out. "You discovered our secret as soon as Fang tried to get past Edward."

"I don't think it's fair that you know about us but we have no idea who you are," Gazzy agreed.

"I think if we're going to live in this house until Fang is better, we deserve an explanation of things," I said.

The Cullens and the red-eyed pale people looked at each other, as if searching for words.

"I totally saw this coming," Alice told them.

"Of course you did," Emmett replied. "It would have been helpful to share that with the class though."

"It's not like it affected you much," Alice said back. "You were out saving Max when it happened."

"You could have told me," Carlisle stated. "I could have come up with a logical explanation."

"You know how I like to live in the moment," she replied with a shrug. "I thought it would be interesting to see what happened when the issue came up."

"If I may interrupt," Isabelle said, "you haven't answered the girl's question yet."

My flock and I waited.

Edward sighed. "I guess I'll start," he said. "Apparently you guys are not so easy to fool. You're right. There is something different about us."

"We're waiting," Fang said impatiently.

"The truth is that we; Carlisle, Esme, Rosalie, Emmett, Alice, Jasper, Bella, Renesmee, and myself; are a group of vegetarians."

"…Vegetarians?" I asked doubtfully, trying to ignore my headache. "That's it? You have a strange fear of eating meat?"

"Not exactly," Carlisle said slowly, and I could tell he was planning his words very carefully. "We're not that kind of vegetarian. Well, we don't eat meat either." He sighed. "We don't actually _eat_ anything."

Emmett huffed in annoyance. "Stop confusing the kids and just tell them that we're all vampires except for Jacob, and he's a werewolf."


	9. More that a Little Freaked

**Here's what you've been waiting for! **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight, Maximum Ride, or Roswell.**

Chapter 9

More than a Little Freaked

**Fang's POV**

I admit it: I didn't see that one coming. The flock and I stared at the people surrounding us in a mix between horror and shock. Total fainted. Nudge and the Gasman were terrified, especially Nudge. We were all more than a little freaked out.

I think we were all thinking the same thing, and Iggy whispered our single, worse fear into my ear: "The _School!_"Max shot me a look that asked _shouldn't we be getting out of here?_

I nodded slightly. Gazzy picked up Total, then he and Nudge got as close to me as possible. Iggy slowly moved behind them.

"Now!" I shouted and snapped out my wings. That hurt.

Even with all the people in the room, I somehow managed to manoeuvre through them and get to the couch, where I grabbed Max and soared past. That took only a few seconds, but that was all it took to send exploding pain through my body. I felt all the cuts on my back re-open and my ribs killed, and carrying Max didn't help. I flew past Iggy and handed Max to him as we soared side by side.

I slowed down after another second. Sure, we could all heal pretty fast, but I'd been hurt only hours before. I shouldn't have been flying at all, and now I knew why. Iggy started to slow as well, but I told him to keep going.

Not that it mattered. We didn't make it to the broken glass wall anyways. Edward, Carlisle, and Jasper got in our way before we could.

"Wait!" Carlisle shouted.

We didn't listen. With the biggest exit blocked, the next option was up the stairs and out a window, if we could.

I was falling farther behind by the time I got to the top of the stairs. Nudge was leading the way and I was the last in our line-up. I was getting dizzy and almost ran into a doorpost, but I somehow managed to stay aloft for the moment. Even if I was caught, I could provide enough of a stall for the others to get out. As far as I could tell, none of the vampires could fly. If we could get outside, we would be free.

Another wave of dizziness came over me and I shook my head to get rid of it as we rounded the corner to go up the last flight of stairs, and I crashed into them. I thought I was going to pass out from the pain (not that I would ever admit it), but the rush of adrenalin when I saw the mob of vampire prototypes behind me, and coming up fast. I scrambled to my feet and struggled to take off again, then I heard a scream from Nudge at the top of the stairs and decided to run up instead.

When I reached the top, I saw why she screamed. In front of each doorway in the hall was one of the vampires, and Renesmee was blocking what remained of the glass wall. Boy, could they move fast!

The flock had stopped at the top of the stairs by the time I came staggering up to join them. Iggy had set Max on her feet.

"We're trapped," Gazzy whined. "Just like at the School."

"Not yet," I whispered back. "One can't catch all of us. We'll fly straight ahead—at Renesmee. I'll go first."

"But Fang…" Max said.

"Don't bother Max. I'll only slow you down."

"I'm in charge!" she hissed. "We're not splitting up!"

"I know you're in charge. That's why you have to make it."

Before she had a chance to argue, I jumped into flight and sped forward, straight for Renesmee. I felt the flock take off behind me a few seconds before Max darted ahead of me. She was trying to keep me out of danger. That was stupid of her. I couldn't let her do it.

Despite the pain it caused me, I flapped as hard as I could to get to Renesmee before Max did. My vision quickly got a little dim and out of focus, but whatever.

Then something very strange happened: Renesmee moved. I wondered for half a second why she did it, but then I had my answer. She was making room for the freaky green rubber shield thingy that took her place. I knew it was rubbery because me and Max both hit it at full speed and bounced off. Uh-oh.

I picked myself up off the floor (with quite a bit of difficulty) and quickly took in our surroundings. We were surrounded by twelve vampires and one werewolf. Not a good place to be when you were us.

I tensed, ready to fight to the death (which I knew wouldn't take very long, considering I was hurt, Max was hurt, and no matter what any of us did, we couldn't hurt at least twelve of them), and I waited for what seemed like forever, but was in reality only a few seconds. Finally, Carlisle stepped up.

"I think there has been a misunderstanding," he said calmly. "We're not going to hurt you."

"Not yet," Gazzy said. "We know that you want us alive to do more of your freaky experiments on us. We're not stupid."

"Don't make 'em mad, Gaz," I warned in a tired whisper.

"I honestly haven't the faintest idea what you mean," Carlisle insisted. "I can understand that you believe every person you meet would like to experiment on you, but even if that were the case with us, how can we do _more_ experiments if we have never done any in the first place?"

I saw Max give him her 'it's pointless to deny it because we already know' look before she said, "Don't bother denying it. We're already on to you."

"There is nothing to be 'on to' us about," Edward stated as though it were hard proven fact.

Iggy sighed in annoyance. "I wish they would stop sending people who try to convince us they're something they're not."

"We're not trying to be anything that we're not," Emmett said. "I told you straight out that we're vampires. That's our secret."

"They're obviously new prototypes," Nudge whispered to me. I wasn't so sure, but I wasn't about to rule it out, either. It would make sense.

"It wouldn't make sense at all," Edward said, as if he were in my mind.

"Come again?" I asked. I'm not usually the one to ask questions or say what I'm thinking, but this guy had just creeped me out.

"I'm not trying to creep you out," he added, again creeping me out. "I'm just trying to figure out what your problem is. Why are you so scared of us?"

_Duh! You're VAMPIRES!_

"We already told you that." There he goes again. "But I can tell there's more to it than that."

I stayed silent, but once again, Edward guessed my thoughts.

"What is the 'School'? Is that why you're so afraid?"

I didn't answer him. None of the flock did.

Edward stepped closer to me and I took a clumsy and painful step back from him. He held up his hands to show he meant no harm, but I didn't believe him. He had hurt me once, who's to say he wouldn't do it again?

"I'm not going to hurt you Fang."

The words sounded a bit strange and muffled in my ears, and I wished he would stop rocking back and forth in front of me.

He reached out to put a hand on my shoulder and I pulled away. "Stay 'way from me," I mumbled stupidly, feeling like I was going to barf. I felt myself bump into Nudge behind me.

"You don't have to worry. You're safe here," Edward tried to assure me.

I didn't feel very safe. Not for myself or for the flock.

Max pushed in front of me. "Get away from him," she ordered. "Leave him alone."

"Look, we're just trying to help. You kids obviously have some issues that you feel you have to take care of by yourselves, but you don't have to." Edward's eyes were sympathetic.

"You don't know anything about us!" Max spat.

I stepped forward to agree with her but stumbled instead. Iggy helped me get steady again.

"It's true that there are some gaps to be filled," Edward admitted. "Like what you were doing in our house in the first place, what the School is, what Erasers and Flyboys are, what exactly it is you guys are scared of, and why you, Max, have a second voice in your head. But we can work on that in time. Right now—"

I didn't hear the rest. I was dizzy again, and I put a hand on my head to try to clear it. Max shot me a concerned look. "Fine," I mouthed to her, but she didn't look convinced. Neither did Carlisle.

"Fang," he said gently. "You're not ready to be up and about. Your body still needs time to recover. Here is where it is safest for you to do so."

"I don't need your hospitality!" I spat weakly. "We've had enough of your lies and tricks to fall for that again."

The last time we had accepted strangely kind hospitality, it had come back to bite us in the back. That wasn't about to happen again.

"We're not trying to trick anyone," Edward insisted. "That's why we told you, so that you wouldn't feel tricked or threatened. We're not trying to capture you."

"And yet," Max said, "you're preventing us from leaving."

Carlisle seemed to think about this, then nodded. He stepped out of our way. With somewhat confused looks, the others followed his lead. The green rubbery shield disappeared, and we were given a clear path to the outside world. Max eyed them warily, then glanced at me, as if to ask _Should we go for it?_ She did that a lot lately, as if she wasn't sure of herself. That was very unlike Max.

I tried to read Carlisle's eyes to see if he meant what he implied or if it was just a trick to get our guard down. But I couldn't tell what was going on behind those topaz eyes, so finally I decided that we should wing it, quite literally for us. I gave Max a very small nod that only she usually saw, and we (the whole flock) spread our wings. We hesitated before starting off at a _very _cautious walk towards the broken wall.

The younger two got to the edge first and looked back once more to make sure we were coming, then jumped into the air and hovered, waiting for the rest of us. Iggy followed after them, but Max and I stayed behind for a moment longer, expecting them to suddenly lunge at us with food on the brain. But they didn't, and we joined our flock outside the oversized, broken wall/window.

Still none of them made a move towards us, though some—particularly Jacob, Renesmee, Edward, and Carlisle—looked disappointed, and perhaps a little concerned. If only Angel were here, she would be able to tell if they were sincere. If only Angel could look into their minds and see all their secrets, tell us if they were our friends (bad choice of words; how about _allies_ instead?) or our enemies. If only Angel…

I turned away at the same moment as Max, taking off with our flock with no idea of where we were going or what we would do next. That was all good; you know, the normal for us. Until we were attacked, which, you know, is also normal for us.


	10. Cat Fight

**Hey! So the flock is off again, but how long could that last? I mean, their lives are just too complicated for them to get off that easy.**

**Note to Amphetere and/or all others who may be interested to know: To be honest, I haven't actually **_**read **_**the books either, except for the second book in the Fugitive trilogy of Maximum Ride. But I have 'flipped' them all (Twilight and Maximum Ride) enough to get an idea of what the characters are like and all that. As for Roswell, there is a book series about it, but I am basing these Roswell aliens off of the TV series that had three seasons. The story line in the book series is a bit different, as are the descriptions of the characters, but they're still pretty good.**

**Oh, and for those who haven't seen it, I recommend the Roswell TV series. It's great!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum, Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Gazzy, Total, or Edward Cullen.**

**Claimer: I do own Vatani and the Ferals.**

Chapter 10

Cat Fight

**Maximum's POV**

These creatures came out of nowhere within a minute and a half of us flying away from the Cullen house. There was no warning whatsoever. They seemed to pop up out of nowhere. And get this: they were _cats_!

I don't mean, like, household, sit on the arm of a couch and eat kibble all day kind of cat; no, these were the regular mutant cross-bred with an animal type cats. Cheetahs, I think, because of how fast they could move.

The first one leapt out of a tree and on top of me, dragging me to the ground. I only managed to yell out a strained "Fang!" as a warning before I crashed to the forest floor with this feral beast on top of me.

How fitting. They sent cats after the birds.

I was back on my feet in a second; a second longer than the kitty. It was the first time I got a look at my new enemy. She was a rather pretty creature, I guess, with long strawberry blond hair back in a braid. She had a very small layer of spotted fur over her arms, neck, and streaks of it on her face. Her nose stuck out a bit from her face, like a cat's, and she had black lines on her eyes that went halfway to her nose, which was pink and very feline-like. She growled at me like a tomcat when it's angry.

Seconds after I was on my feet, I saw the other members of the flock drop to the ground, each with their own Feral. Fang was the last to be back on his feet, and I made a mental note to keep an eye on him.

I turned my attention back to my opponent. "So I guess you're the latest freak of anything but nature?" I asked. "Pleased to meet you." I wasn't, really. I could do without yet another group of murderous mutants after us.

"Likewise," she replied with a hiss. "I've heard so much about the infamous Maximum Ride, and I've been _dying _to meet you."

She lunged at me with a vicious snarl, fangs bared and claws extended (yes, they have claws). I dodged her, but with surprising difficulty. She was really fast. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the others locked in combat with their Ferals. They seemed to be doing okay, but these were definitely not Erasers or Flyboys. They would be harder to take out.

My Feral leapt again, just missing me.

"Well," I said as I jumped back, "it seems you know my name. But I don't know yours."

"Vatani," she replied with a growl. She pounced again, and this time I wasn't so lucky. She knocked me to the ground and I kicked her off of me. Her claws scratched my cheek as I threw her over my head.

I saw Fang smashed to the ground by his Feral, a tall and vicious-looking male with a very muscular build. Gazzy and Nudge seemed to be doing okay with their Ferals, which were smaller than mine and Fang's. Iggy's was smaller than ours, too, but bigger than the Nudge's and Gazzy's. The only female out of all of them was the one I was fighting. Weird. Total, who had overcome his shock just a minute or two before the attack, was chasing a mutant housecat, with wings much like his own, that had shown up with the Ferals.

"Take to the skies!" I shouted. We all leaped into the air and spread our wings, flapped, and shot into the air. We weren't going to retreat from the fight of course, but since the new mutants couldn't fly, being in the air would be our advantage.

Or so I thought. The Ferals were nimble and very fast, and apparently, they were very good jumpers. They leapt into the air and latched onto us, punching and tearing with their claws. Vatani bit my shoulder. I had a hard time flapping with her on my back, especially since she was beating and slashing at my neck, back, wings, and arms.

I decided the war was better fought on the ground, since in the air we couldn't reach them to kick their butts. I landed again.

As soon as I touched down, the Feral jumped in front of me and delivered a blow to my jaw that spun me around. In the same moment, her foot smashed into my stomach several times at lightning speed before she swung one foot up to connect with my head. I caught her foot and countered, smashing my own foot onto her skull.

It hardly fazed her.

So I continued to deliver kick after kick, punch after punch, to her face, head, stomach, and anywhere else I could hit. However, besides the movement of her thin body with each blow, she hardly seemed to notice I was touching her.

"You'll have to do much better than that," Vatani said, "if you plan on defeating me."

"I plan on doing more than that!" I said angrily.

"Bring it on, sister."

"Do _not_ call me 'sister'!" I lunged at her again, looking for a weak point that would be beneficial for us. She swiped at me, and I jumped over and behind her, landing a kick in between her shoulder blades. She fell forward and landed hard among the undergrowth.

I heard Fang grunt in pain and I glanced over at him. Blood was running down his arm from his shoulder and he had a long diagonal cut halfway across his forehead. His lip and nose were bleeding. He was holding his ribs and looked pale and exhausted. I decided we had to finish this very soon, for Fang's sake.

I leapt on my attacker and began once again to land punch after punch on her jaw. After about ten punches, I managed to split her lip, but that was about it before she kicked me off.

She pounced on me and wrapped her fingers around my neck. She squeezed until I couldn't breathe, digging her claws into my flesh. "You can't win, Maximum," she whispered in my ear. "They made sure of it."

For a second, I believed her. They seemed to have the upper hand in this fight. I couldn't figure out how to beat them, and my time was running out. I couldn't breathe, and I couldn't get her off of me. We were equal in strength, but they were obviously much less fragile than us.

"_Don't give up, Max. Just hold on until help comes."_

"_How do I know help is coming?" _I asked my Voice desperately.

"_It will come."_

I looked around as best I could to see how the others were doing. Nudge, Gazzy, and Iggy were still in pretty intense combat with their Ferals. They didn't look like they were winning, but it didn't seem like they were losing either. Fang, however, was not doing as well as them. Through blurring eyes, I saw the Feral that Fang was fighting kick him really hard in the ribs, making Fang fly back twenty feet. He would have gone farther if the Feral hadn't jumped above him and slammed him into the ground. Fang pushed himself up as fast as he could (which was not very fast), his pain showing on his face. He looked at me, then at his Feral and mine with sudden determination.

In a sudden rush of adrenalin, Fang whirled around, caught his Feral by the ankle, and threw him into Vatani. I sucked in a breath of sweet and precious air, my vision clearing with the new rush of oxygen to my brain, and jumped back onto my feet.

Vatani was enraged at Fang for interrupting her battle and leapt towards him. I was going to stop her, but the male that Fang had been fighting jumped in front of me to hold me back.

I watched in horror as she attacked Fang viciously. First, she swiped at him with her razor-sharp claws. Somehow he managed to dodge before she tore his face to pieces, but he wasn't so lucky when she kicked him in the stomach, the face, and in back of his knees. Fang fell to his hands and knees, panting and groaning.

"STAY OUT—" Vatani yelled, kicking Fang's side as hard as she could. Fang was launched into the air by her foot. Vatani jumped into the air after him. "OF MY—" She brought her foot up hard, connecting with his chin and shooting him even higher into the air so that he was at fifty-some feet. I watched, horrified, as his eyes rolled backwards into his head before closing. "Fight," Vatani finished with a satisfied smile.

"FANG!!!" the whole flock screamed at the same moment. Fang dropped like a stone after the upwards momentum wore out. I jumped over the Feral in front of me and spread my wings, flying to catch Fang, but Vatani jumped on me before I had the chance. She pulled me back to the ground almost as soon as I left it and pinned my wings behind my back with my own arms. The others' Ferals did the same to my flock, forcing us to watch helplessly as Fang fell to what I was sure would be his death.

Suddenly there was a blur of pale white that leapt from a tree and into the air. It passed Fang, twenty feet from the ground, and carried him through the air to the nearest tree.

It was Edward Cullen.


	11. Just a Helping Hand

**Hey, thanks so much for the reviews! Now, to wind down the action and excitement a little.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any people in this except for Vatani and the Ferals.**

Chapter 11

Just a Helping Hand

**Edward's POV**

The spotted creature glared at me with hatred for interfering with her kill. I returned her glare for a few seconds before turning my attention to the limp figure in my arms.

Fang looked awful; even worse than he had after our first encounter earlier that same day. He was as or more pale than we are, but not for the same reasons. Blood dribbled from the corner of his mouth and down his cheek. His bangs of black hair were wet from the blood of an ugly cut on his forehead. The black T-shirt Jasper had given him was soaked with blood from deep claw marks on his stomach and a gash on his shoulder. I checked to make sure he was breathing and found that he was, but faintly. I'm no doctor, but I knew he needed help as soon as possible. It was a good thing Alice had seen what was going to happen, or else we may not have gotten here on time.

I turned my attention back to the monster that had led the attack on these kids. She leapt forward and climbed up the tree using her claws, and stopped right in front of me. She was kind of scary, in all truth.

"This isn't your concern," she said to me in a threatening tone. "Hand over the avian hybrid, and I will allow you to live."

"I don't think so," I said calmly. "In fact, all the kids come with me. Or you die."

She smiled, revealing her sharp fangs. "Fine then. I guess we'll just have to kill you first."

"I don't think so."

She tensed, ready to pounce on me. In the same moment, Jasper, Emmett, and Carlisle came from what would seem out of nowhere for the average person and joined me in the tree, each one on a different branch. Jacob bounded out of the forest in his wolf form and stood at the base of the tree, facing and growling at the four creatures on the ground that still held the bird kids. The cats looked like they would wet their fur any second at the sight of the huge werewolf.

Jasper, Emmett, Carlisle, and Jacob had insisted on coming along, even though I was pretty sure I wouldn't need them. If we were impervious to the bird-kids, it was most likely that it would be the same with these mutant kitties. But Carlisle hadn't really given me a choice in the matter. He wanted to make sure as little violence as possible was used against these creeps. He was worried I might accidentally kill someone. Yet another reminder of my stupid mistake from earlier.

The female that had confronted me looked around at the new-comers, seemingly realizing that the chances of her winning were pretty slim, especially with the enormous canine on our side. She turned to me. "Perhaps another time, then," she said, then jumped off my branch and into a different tree. Her companions released the winged kids and joined her, along with the mutant cat. Then they disappeared into the forest.

Max spread her wings and flew up to join us in the tree. She stood in front of me, quietly watching the still figure in my arms. Her eyes met mine. _"Thank you," _she thought at me. I smiled slightly and nodded. She knew.

Carlisle joined us and took Fang from me. He turned to Max. "Look, I know you kids obviously have some trust issues. But Fang needs medical attention and plenty of rest, and unless you plan on taking him to a hospital, he'll get it at our house. You're welcome to come back as well. From the looks of it," he said, looking around at them all, bruised and bloody, "you could all use a bit of stitching up."

He was right. Max's shoulder had a disgusting bite mark in it that bled down her arm and she was covered in what resembled cat scratches. Iggy, much to my surprise, seemed mostly unhurt except for a bleeding cut on his cheek, a bloodied lip, and a few bruises; not bad for a blind kid. Gazzy was slightly pale from exhaustion, and one pant leg was ripped with torn and bleeding flesh showing from beneath it. Nudge had scratches on the side of her neck and she walked with a limp. They could all use some fixing up and rest.

It was then that I noticed how the kids all stared in terror at Jacob. The dog seemed more excited than scared, but the avian-hybrids looked like they were staring at a ghost. I listened to all of their thoughts:

"_It looks like a really big Eraser," _Nudge was thinking wildly.

"_I wonder if it's an upgraded version," _was Gazzy's thought.

"_I don't like the sound of that ragged breathing," _Iggy worried. _"It sounds too much like the Erasers. Too much like Ari…"_

Total was thinking something completely different, though: _"Wow! That's a big dog! I wonder if he'll want to play with me..?"_

Max was a little distracted. Her thoughts were filled with two voices:

"_Are you sure they're not dangerous?" _Max asked in her head.

"_I can't be absolutely sure, but this is the second time they've helped you." _That was a different voice.

"_I don't know what to do, Voice," _Max thought. _"Maybe I should be the only one to go back."_

"_You know the flock won't agree with that. You won't get them to split up. It just won't happen."_

"_I guess you're right. But what can we do?"_

"_Go with the flow, Max."_

Max visibly rolled her eyes. _"Yeah, yeah, I know."_

She turned to me. "I guess we're coming, too."

"All of us?" Iggy asked.

"All of us."

"Jacob," I said to the massive werewolf at the bottom of the tree, "go change. We're going back to the house, and I think you're kind of freaking out the kids."

"_Fine. I'll meet you back there. And tell Max not to worry; I'll be fully clothed," _Jacob replied.

"What?"

He chuckled animal-like. _"Never mind about the story. Just tell her." _With that, he bounded away from us, through the forest and towards the house.

"Okay…" I turned to Max. "Jacob says not to worry. Next time you see him, he'll be fully clothed."

She looked confused and pointed towards where wolf had run off. "_That's _Jacob?" she asked.

I nodded.

"Oh," she said. "That explains a lot."

Carlisle turned to me. "We have to go. Fang needs some work, and I'm not about to leave these kids out here alone."

"You guys go on," Max said to her flock. "Remember, keep to the skies and keep them in view. I'll be along in a minute."

Iggy, Gazzy, and Nudge jumped straight up and opened their wings. They hovered above the trees and waited for my family. All we vampires turned to leave, but I stopped when Max touched my arm. I turned to her, half expecting her to suddenly yell at me. But she didn't.

"Can…can I talk to you?" she asked quietly.

"Of course," I said with genuine surprise. It must have been a split second decision on her part, because I didn't hear that coming. She didn't even know what she was going to say to me, which meant that I didn't know either.

The others went on ahead and we waited until we were alone. When the others were gone, Max started.

"Look…" she said, "I just want to…you know…"

"Don't worry about it," I told her. "It's the least I could do to make up for my earlier actions. It's my fault Fang got hurt in the first place."

She seemed like she felt awkward. "Listen…I'm sorry. I had no right—"

"Max," I interrupted, "don't worry about it. You had every reason to be mad at me."

She looked away from my eyes. "You don't understand. For the last three years, I've been taking care of them. They're my flock—my family. All five—" She cut herself off. "I mean all four of them."

"I get that," I told her. "If someone tried to hurt my family—"

"No, you don't get it," she said, "and I have to make you see. You deserve an explanation. It's the least I can do to make up for my actions." She took a deep breath. "You've probably already heard this with your very obvious mind-reading ability, but I'm going to tell you anyways.

"You see, for as long as I could remember, me and my flock were in a facility that we call the School. We spent most of our lives in dog crates, being experimented on, augmented, and turned into mutant warriors to fight some war that's supposed to happen or something. My biological father got us out of there and took us to a secret place.

"But we were discovered three years ago, and ever since, we've been on the run from the Whitecoats—that's what we call them," she explained. "We've faced Erasers, Flyboys, and whatever else they've thrown at us, including those Ferals, now. We've also faced betrayal by loved ones, more experiments than you could count, and many injuries."

"You don't have to worry about that with us," I insisted. "We're vampires, yes, but we only feed on animals. We're vegetarians in that sense."

"That's not what I'm getting at," she said, then took another deep breath. "Two and a half years ago, Ari, an Eraser, attacked us with a bunch of other Erasers. Fang was hurt bad, and he almost died. He would have if he hadn't been taken to the hospital. Seeing Fang on the floor earlier today brought back those memories."

"If it worked out good in the end," I said, "then why would the memories be bad?"

"The person we trusted while Fang was recovering ended up being the head cheese of the very organization that was hunting us down. Said she wanted to be 'a part of our becoming'."

"What happened?"

"We got out of there, and we haven't really rested our trust in anyone ever since," she said. "I mean, besides my mom, dad, and half-sister. Our most recent mission was yet another step to saving the world, but in Venice…" Her voice cracked. "In Venice…" she tried again, but to talk was too much. _"I lost my girl," _she thought at me.

"Angel?" I asked gently.

She nodded, a line of moisture gleaming on her face in the moonlight. "She could read minds, too. I guess that's one reason I've been pushing you away; you bring back memories of her. Memories are all I have left of my baby girl." She paused. "I can't lose Fang, too," she said quietly. "He can't become just a memory. I wouldn't be able to handle it."

Max lowered her head so that I wouldn't see her eyes. _"I'm such a baby," _she thought. _"What would the flock think if they saw me now?"_

"Max," I said, lifting her chin, "I'm sure the flock would understand. You're human. You're allowed to have feelings, just like them."

Tears were streaming from her eyes.

"I can't lose Fang," she sobbed, and I pulled her into the warmest hug a vampire can give, which actually isn't that warm. Icy touch and all.

"You won't. I promise."


	12. Porch Swing

**More sensitive side of Maximum Ride! **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride, Twilight, or Roswell**

Chapter 12

Porch Swing

**Maximum's POV**

Okay, so I was getting soft. I couldn't help it though. I had way too much on my plate to keep it all bottled up inside, and though Edward's hug was cold as ice, it was exactly what I needed.

We walked back to the house together, talking about everything from Shakespeare to ballet. I think Edward was trying to keep my mind off of Fang, but it wasn't working. I pretended to be carefree, though, cuz I didn't want him to worry. It's annoying when people worry about you when you're pretending to be fine.

We made it back to the house in a few minutes (I was kind of hurrying), and were greeted by a grave-looking Esme. Instantly my heart fell.

"How is he?" I asked, bracing myself for the worst.

"Not good," Esme replied. "His broken ribs were displaced during your fight. One is dangerously close to puncturing a lung, which is already bleeding internally. His concussion has gone from minor to severe, and he has a slight fracture in his neck."

"Is he going to be okay?" My voice cracked as I spoke.

She hesitated. "…I don't know."

That did it. For the second time in the last ten minutes, I broke out into uncontrollable tears. From the porch, I could see that Nudge, Iggy, Gazzy, and even Total, were crying too, but I still felt like a mega wimp. After all, Fang wasn't dead. At least, not yet. Crying two times in one day is very rare for me, even if it concerns someone I love.

Esme wrapped me in a motherly hug and walked me to the swinging chair on the porch. I sat down with my head in my hands.

"It's all my fault," I sobbed. "It was _my_ idea to stop here. If we'd have kept going, Fang wouldn't be…" I couldn't finish. Talking about it made it too real to bear.

With my hands pressed to my eyes, I felt Esme stand from the chair and someone else take her place beside me. A warm arm was placed across my shoulder and I was gently pulled to someone's side. A hand stroked my hair.

"It's okay, Max," Jacob said softly. "Carlisle's working on him now. If anyone can save Fang, it's him. He'll be okay."

I looked up into Jacob's brown eyes, with tears streaming out of mine. "How do you know?" I whispered.

"I just know. He'll make it. Don't worry."

My gaze was locked with his, and for some reason, I believed him. Thinking about him, seeing how much he cared about my flock reflected in his eyes, knowing that we really were among real friends, sent new tears to my eyes. I lowered my gaze so he wouldn't see them.

"Why do you care so much?" I asked quietly.

He lifted my chin gently and spoke in little more than a whisper. "How could I not?"

I rested my head on his chest and he rested his chin on my head. I suddenly realized how exhausted I was from the day's events and closed my eyes.


	13. Romeo and Juliet

**Okay, here's the thing: I can't say just yet what's going to happen as far as relationships go, because it would spoil the surprise. I can say though that soon, we **_**are **_**going to see some relationships developing, and some being torn apart. As for who and why… well, you'll just have to wait and see. Just know that I personally do not have a favourite as far as fic relationships go, so it could go either way…MWAHAHAHAHA!! ;-)**

**Moving on, this chapter gives a bit of info on just what happened to turn the Roswell aliens from married, engaged, and dating to single vampires.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Bella's or the Max's, or anybody else in this chapter.**

Chapter 13

Romeo and Juliet

**Maxwell's POV**

I watched Jacob and Maximum from a nearby tree with a smile. The two of them definitely had some chemistry, but I doubted that either of them knew it yet. The funny thing about it was that she was a mutant bird kid and he was a mutant dog kid. Birds and dogs don't usually get along. It was like forbidden love—Romeo and Juliet all over again. Watching them brought back memories of a love I had known once; a love that was forbidden, but neither of us cared. Like Romeo and Juliet

Liz was my Juliet; my one, true love. She was my life, even before she knew I was an alien. After she found out, though, we grew closer and she fell in love with me, too. Her father didn't approve of me, but she didn't care. He warmed up to me eventually and finally allowed me to be with her. Mind you, he didn't like me because I accidentally got Liz in trouble for armed robbery when I was looking for mine, Isabelle's, and Michael's spaceship so I could find my son, but that's beside the point.

Her dad finally warmed up to me, but we all—me, Liz, Michael, Maria, Isabelle, and Kyle—had to leave shortly after because the FBI was getting way too close to us. They almost sniped me out at my graduation.

Liz and I were happy together for a full two years before the FBI caught up with us. They were going to take us all back to Area 51 to do experiments on us before exterminating the 'Alien Invaders'. At least, that's what _normal _FBI people would have done. These agents were not exactly normal. We found that out when each of the three of them turned one of us. I guess they thought us more useful as alien vampires than just aliens. It was easy to tell that they were not really FBI when Michael, Isabelle, and I woke up with a thirst for blood and nothing but blood.

Apparently, the three Italian male vampires that had turned us had obviously had the same thirst for blood. Kyle, Maria, and my dear, sweet Liz were gone forever.

Have you ever wondered what Romeo would have felt like if Juliet died but he found that no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't? Let me be the first to tell you that it sucks worse than a vacuum cleaner, worse than a whirlpool, and worse than sinking sand. No, this was like _black hole _kind of suck. My whole life went down the enormous drain called death, and there was nothing I could do to get her back. I was a Romeo without a Juliet, and with no way to get back to her.

Disturbed at my memories of my past, I decided to go see how Carlisle was doing with Fang. I jumped down from the tree and ran to the house in four seconds flat, careful not to disturb the odd two on the swing. Jacob had left the door open, so that wasn't too difficult; I could just run in and let them cuddle in peace. I noticed the rest of the sweet-smelling turkey kids sleeping, huddled up to Esme, on the couch. Michael and Isabelle were conversing at vampire speed with Esme, talking about our life story. Last time Esme had seen us, we'd been only aliens, and I don't think she had even known. Now we were extra-terrestrials _and_ vampires. That's kind of a big switch.

I walked upstairs to the third floor, which was completely vacant except for Fang, who was in one of the rooms, and Carlisle, who was sitting in the hall looking distraught.

"What's up?" I asked, taking a seat on the floor beside him outside of Edward's old room.

He sighed and pushed his fingers through his hair distractedly. "I am stumped," he admitted. "I don't know what to do, and he just keeps getting worse. I may be the best doctor in the world, but Max—the other Max—is right. I can't fix everything."

"Well, what's the biggest problem?" I inquired.

Carlisle sighed again. "One of the ribs that Edward broke earlier has been dislodged from where I had set it to heal. It's poking into his left lung. And every moment that he goes untreated brings him one moment closer to not being able to make a comeback."

"So do some surgery and fix it," I said. "Come on, doc, it shouldn't be that hard for you."

"I specialize in humans," Carlisle said. "Once in a while, I'll get the occasional werewolf. No big deal. These kids, however, do not have a natural bone structure or anything."

I was a bit confused. "You've actually found a patient that you can't cure?" I asked. "Isn't that what you do? You cure the incurable."

"It's not that easy," Carlisle explained. "I did a quick study of Fang's blood, and it's alive. It has nuclei. Like a bird. And his bones? They're hollow. Like a bird."

"So he's a lot like a bird?"

He sighed again. "Yeah. He's a lot like a bird."

"Huh," I said. "Too bad you're not a vet."

"It's not just that," he continued, not catching my joke. "There's little air-sack thingy's besides their lungs, and I don't know where they are or what happens when one is damaged."

He looked directly at me. "What if I can't save him, Maxwell? What am I going to tell Max? She trusts me to do this, to save him, but what if I can't?"

"Turn him?" I suggested. "Then you'd never have to worry about fixing him again."

"I can't do that."

"You have the venom."

"I'm not going to drag him or any of his flock into this artificial life," he said.

I chuckled. "You sound like Edward."

He shrugged. "Edward had a point. The more I think about it, the more obvious it becomes. I wonder every day if Edward or Esme resent me for changing them. I mean, Esme was finished with her life and wanted to throw it all away. If I'd have let her go, maybe she would be back with her baby. Maybe Edward would have been able to see his mother and father again. Now their memories of their families are fading more and more every day, and soon those memories will be nothing more than a shadow."

"Well, if you hadn't changed Edward, Renesmee would never have been born and Bella would have never been happy," I pointed out.

"Yeah, I suppose…If you look at it that way…"

He still seemed unsure.

"For heaven's sake! If you're that concerned, don't change him!" I said, frustrated. "Let the kid die!"

"I don't want to let him die. His blood would be on my hands."

"Then lick it off. I bet it would taste good. Have you caught a whiff of those kids lately?"

Carlisle glared at me. "What happened to you, Maxwell?"

I looked away from him. "I became a vampire. Isn't that what we do? Eat and turn?"

"It's not what _I _do," Carlisle replied. "You don't have to be a monster, Maxwell. My family and I don't feed on human blood at all. Ever."

There was a pause, then a voice from Edward's old room spoke so quietly that only a vampire would hear it. "That's nice to know."

Carlisle was on his feet and in the room in less than a second. I followed, but considerably slower than him. I took four seconds longer to get there. I wasn't really in a hurry.

Fang was lying on a high table in the middle of the room, his eyes only half open. Carlisle stood over him anxiously.

"Fang," he said, "you have to help me on this. I don't have any idea what to do to help you."

"You're the doc," Fang said fuzzily.

"I don't understand your anatomy," Carlisle explained. "I don't know how fragile you are. I don't know what I can touch or anything. I'm confused, and I don't get confused very often. You have to help me."

"S'not my job to do…" he mumbled, closing his eyes.

"Fang!" Carlisle said loudly. "You have to hold on. You have to help me."

"Can't," the avian kid replied in a barely a whisper. Suddenly, his eyes opened wide and he gasped. His breathing became ragged and he coughed blood.

Carlisle's eyes widened in terror and he leaned over Fang, lifting his head to try to make his breathing easier. "Fang!" he cried out. "What's wrong? What's happening? What are your symptoms?"

"Ca-n't br-ea-the—" Fang said through clenched teeth.

"It's okay," Carlisle said, obviously trying to convince himself as much as Fang. "Stay with me." He turned to me, as if he thought I could help in some way. "This isn't good, Maxwell! I think the bone pierced his lung!"

"So?"

At that moment, Maximum Ride bolted into the room, closely followed by her flock. She ran over to the boy and grabbed his hand. "Fang?" she said in panic. "Fang, look at me! Don't leave me!

Fang fought to focus his eyes on her. His voice fell to a whisper. "Max…take care of them," he breathed, growing still. He forced a weak smile as tears rolled down the female Max's cheeks. "Hey…you'll be fine. You always are."

"This is my fault," Max sobbed. "If I hadn't gotten in trouble with that _thing_…"

"It's not you're…fault…" Fang's voice trailed off and his eyes rolled backwards. His breath escaped him in a sigh.

Max gripped his hand tighter and pulled it to her face. "Fang! Open you're eyes, Fang!" she demanded him.

He didn't move.

"Fang! Look at me!"

Images flashed through my mind of a time when I, too, was in that desperate situation to save the one I loved. I could not stand by and watch this terrible memory come into play again, even if their lives had nothing to do with me. Even though I had vowed to myself that I would never interfere with life and death again, I stepped forward and pushed Maximum aside, though she kept her hand in his. I leaned over Fang and listened.

His heart was still beating. It was almost too faint to detect, but I heard it. It wasn't too late.

I placed my hand on Fang's chest and rested it there, focusing my alien powers. A glow of silvery light developed beneath my hand at the same moment as an array of images flooded my mind. Now that I was a vampire, I could do it without tiring, but the exhaustion had been replaced with the ability to glimpse the one thing that they think is worth living for, the reason they want to live.

The images that flowed from his memory to mine were unlike what I expected. Given the way he and Maximum looked at each other, I assumed the images would be his most cherished memories of her and their time together. Most of the things I saw were exactly this, but in the last second, I caught a few glimpses of another girl with curly bronze hair, brown eyes, and slightly pale skin. The flashes were quick, but the identity was unmistakable:

It was Renesmee Cullen.

I smiled to myself on the inside, though I'm sure my face was perplexed. Those two seemed like an odd couple. A regular Romeo and Juliet.


	14. Relevant Relationships

**Remember how before I said some relationships were going to have tension? This is what I meant.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or Maximum Ride.**

Chapter 14

Relevant Relationships

**Maximum's POV**

I watched with tears in my eyes as the other Max leaned over my Fang and put a hand above his chest. I watched as the silver light flooded from his hand and seemingly seeped into Fang's body. I saw when Max's eyes became vacant and he seemed to be seeing thin air for just a few seconds before, to my amazement and surprise and joy, Fang's eyes flickered open.

Max withdrew his hand with a perplexed look, but I didn't care about that. I didn't know how he had done it, but he had brought Fang back to me, and that was all that mattered.

The flock rushed over as Max backed away, and the other vampires got as close as they could without damaging our personal little flock bubble: especially Carlisle, who was obviously amazed at the event that had just taken place.

Fang looked around at all of our smiling faces with dazed eyes. "Okay…" he said. "What happened?"

I didn't have an answer for him, because I really had no clue. One moment I thought he was going to be gone forever, and the next he was there in front of me, seemingly as good as new.

I think the rest of the flock felt the same way, because none of us said a word. We all just stood there grinning and gaping and crying. Iggy hadn't even been able to see the miracle that had just occurred, but he had heard everything, which I guess was enough because even he was at a loss for words.

Fang sat up stiffly and looked directly at past me and at Maxwell. Pulling his hand away from mine, he jumped down off the table and walked over to the red-eyed vampire. The sea of people parted as Fang walked past us all and we watched as he stepped up to Max.

"I don't really know you, and you don't know me," Fang said. "You tried to eat my best friend in the entire world, and I don't know if I can trust you."

Maxwell shifted uncomfortably as we all looked on.

"But," Fang continued, "though I have no idea how, you saved my life." Fang held out a hand. "And I thank you for it."

Max smiled and accepted the handshake that Fang had offered. "Don't mention it."

I felt sudden spite well up inside me at Fang's display. I had saved Fang's life countless times, along with the rest of my flock. Now this vampire stranger, who had just recently tried to _eat _me, performs some sort of freaky hocus-pocus and gains Fang's utmost respect and gratitude. Where was his gratitude towards me?

Max caught my glare and quickly withdrew his hand. Fang looked at me and glared back with a look that said, "I'll talk to you later about this."

I didn't care. I was having a bad day and didn't care what anybody thought at that moment.

"I'm going for a fly," I said louder and angrier that I needed to. I opened the bedroom window and jumped out, spreading my wings and taking off into the night.

It took me a couple minutes to realize that Fang was following me. I debated whether or not to pour on the speed and leave him in my dust, but I decided to let him catch up with me. I touched down in a tree and waited for half a minute for him to arrive.

When he landed beside me, I could tell he was aggravated. Join the club.

"What's your problem, Max?" he demanded.

I turned my back to him.

He grabbed my shoulder and spun me around to face him. "I asked what your problem is. I thought you of all people would be happy to have me back on my feet, so what's the deal?"

I didn't answer him.

He paused, then asked, "Is this about Angel?"

I was shocked. We never talked about Angel. Ever. We even tried to never _think _about Angel. How dare he even mention her?

"No," I said quietly. "This has nothing to do with her. Even if it did, there's nothing anyone could do about it."

"Well, then what's the problem?"

"You are," I said without meaning to.

He was taken aback. "Why? Because I appreciate people who save my life?"

"Yes," I replied bluntly. "You appreciate strangers if they happen to save you. But what about me? How many times have I saved you? I'll tell you: _a lot! _How many 'thank you's' have I gotten from you? _None._"

"So?"

"_So, _you might show _me_ a little gratitude once in a while."

"I show you gratitude."

"How? By giving me the cold shoulder? By ignoring me when I'm trying to look out for you."

"How about saving _your _butt back in the woods? You know, when you were being chocked to death by Kung-fu Kitty?"

I rolled my eyes at him. "That's not the point."

"Then what is you're point, Max? Because I'm confused."

"It's like you don't even notice me anymore," I admitted. "I try so hard to be the leader that I'm supposed to be, but none of it is good enough for you. I mean, I know we're all upset about Angel, but we have to move on."

"So it is about Angel."

"No!" I said in frustration. "This is about us! Our relationship is going downhill, and you don't even see it. Either that or you just don't care."

"And what relationship would that be, Max? Is it the one where you tell the flock what to do and we do it without ever second-guessing your judgement?"

"I'm talking about _our _relationship. Mine and yours. Nobody else's."

Fang looked away. "We don't have that kind of relationship, Max."

I admit: I was hurt. "But I thought that you…I mean, we were you know…" I couldn't find the words to finish.

"Come on, Max!" he said harshly. "We were _fourteen_! We didn't _know _any better. We were just two mutant bird kids with no one to trust but each other and our flock. There was no one else in our lives to be attracted to than one another."

Ouch. He had just told me that he had only liked me because I was the only option. I pretended it didn't hurt, but I was fighting back tears. "We had a connection," I said quietly. "We've been through so much together. Remember the beach? Remember the first time we kissed?"

"You kissed me," he corrected. "I didn't have a choice in the matter."

"What about when we were going to school, and I went on a date with that guy Sam? I was not completely happy with him, because he wasn't you."

He shrugged. "We were young. Boyfriends and girlfriends didn't mean anything. Besides, if I remember right, you were the one with the problem when I had a moment with Lissa, the Red-haired Wonder as you called her. I never criticized your judgement. Not like you snapped at me about Lissa. I could care less who _you_ date."

My hurt was slowly growing to anger. "So all of our time together, everything we've been through, the experiences we've shared, the _love_ for each other that we had; all of it means _nothing _to you?"

Fang just looked at me.

"What about in Venice? Before our fight with the new Erasers. You took my hand, and you said, 'Make it though, alright? The flock still needs you. I need you.' Don't you remember that?" I asked desperately.

"Things have changed since then, Max. We're not the same people."

"No, Fang! _You're _the one that's changed!" I found myself shouting the words at him as I shoved my finger at him. "You don't even see what a jerk you've become! How many times have you completely disregarded everything I say since Venice? How many times have you smiled in the last two months? How many times have I tried to be there for you to talk to but you just push me away? I'll tell you: countless, none, and always!"

"So it's all my fault, now?" he asked bitterly. "You're saying that I'm the only one that's changed since Angel? I may not be the Happy-go-Lucky guy that you want me to be, but at least I take into consideration the younger ones when we're in danger. At least I'm willing to fight and get my butt handed to me if it helps protect the flock."

"You think I don't care about all of you?" I demanded angrily. "Who was it that faced off against Ari every time he showed up before he joined up with us?"

"Actually, that was me," Fang pointed out. "And I've got the scars to prove it. All you did was break his neck. Once. And you didn't even mean to."

"Because I have a heart!" I yelled.

"So that's why you let Angel die? Because _you have a heart_?" he shouted back.

"You're blaming _me _for that?"

"You're the one that took so long to get there!"

"I _tried _to save her, Fang! You _know _that!"

"Do I?"

That was the last straw. He could be a jerk to me all he wanted, but blaming _me _for Angel's death was going _WAAAYYYY _too far. Saying he didn't care about me was one thing, but saying that I didn't care about the flock, especially about Angel, was going farther than _WAAAYYYY _too far. I didn't care if he was a part of my flock; no one got away with saying I didn't do anything to save Angel.

If I had been any other girl, I would have slapped him across the face. But because I'm me, Maximum Ride, I lunged at Fang and tackled him. The two of us fell out of the tree and towards the ground, with me on top laying the punches to Fang. We hit the ground hard, leaving our imprints on the soil.

Fang kicked me off of him and lunged at me, catching me in the stomach with his knee. My breath was knocked out of me, but not my stubbornness and inability to quit. I jumped on him again and punched his jaw hard. He returned the favour, and we rolled around the forest floor, kicking, punching, and head-butting each other whenever and wherever we could.

I don't know how long we went on like this. To be honest, I don't even remember half of it. I was practically in a blind rage the entire time.

But you can't blame me for it though, right? I mean, Angel was _my _baby girl. I loved her with all my heart. I did everything I could to save her. How _dare _he say that it was my fault that she was gone? How _dare _he say I didn't care about her? He needed to be put in his place, and I was the only one around to do it.

So we fought it out for a while: me to get my anger out and Fang to be a jerk. I remember the end, when I did a round-house kick and connected with his jaw then leapt on him again and delivered blow after blow to his jaw and nose while he did the same to me. I remember because it was then that I felt familiar, cold hands on my arms that yanked me off of him. I pulled with all my might to get away and back to my fight. Fang was eager to finish it, too, but before he could get to me, he, too, was held back by cold and powerful arms.

"Break it up, you two!" Carlisle said from behind Fang. "Fang was just brought back practically from the dead. You don't want him to go back there so soon."

At that moment, I wasn't entirely sure that I didn't. Hot tears of rage, grief, and pain poured from my eyes and I stopped struggling against Edward's hands. I looked directly at Fang.

"I _loved _Angel," I said quietly. "But I guess you wouldn't know what that feels like."

That seemed to strike a nerve in Fang, but I didn't care. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that he had a point. If I'd have gotten to her in time, if I had been just a little better, if I had just _been _there, maybe Angel would still be alive.

"Max, I—" Fang started but couldn't finish. Looking back now, I guess he probably felt about two inches tall, which was two inches taller than I felt.

"I'm going back to the house," I told Edward. He released my arms and I jumped into the air, spread my wings, and took off at super-sonic speed in the direction of the Cullen house.

Edward and Carlisle stayed back, glaring at Fang.


	15. A Taste of Heaven

**So Fang and Max have some issues, and neither of them want to admit it. Kind of puts a damper on their relationship. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight, Maximum Ride, or Roswell.**

Chapter 15

A Taste of Heaven

**Jacob's POV**

I was kind of worried.

I loved Renesmee Cullen with all my heart and I did everything I could to make her happy. The problem I faced was that these feelings were copying themselves and pasting on, get this, Maximum Ride. Yeah, I know: weird. Truth be told, it kind of freaked me out.

Thing is, I'd already imprinted on Renesmee. How could these feelings that are only supposed to happen once to a werewolf be happening again, and especially while the object of my imprinting was still living? It shouldn't have been happening, and yet, it was.

So there I was, back on the swing on the porch, confused about my feelings for both girls. I saw a flash of light brown wings zip into one of the third floor windows and smiled. Max sure knew how to fly. I waited for Fang's dark figure to appear out of the night behind her. And waited. Then I was confused again, because he didn't come out of the night sky after her. Hadn't he gone to talk to her?

A few minutes later, I caught sight of three figures walking to the house side by side. I recognized Edward and Carlisle on the ends, and realized that it must have been Fang in between them. I wondered what had happened that Fang wouldn't fly with Max, or the other way around, when I remembered how Carlisle and Edward had bolted out of the house just six minutes ago. Maybe Alice had had a vision and Edward and Carlisle had to get to Max and Fang ASAP. I hoped they weren't attacked again by those creepy cat things. Two times in one night wouldn't be very fair, especially with everything else these kids had gone through today.

As they got closer, I could begin to make out what they were saying.

"From what I can tell, Maximum has been there for you and your family for a long time," Carlisle was saying. "Has she not?"

Fang was silent, his hands in his pockets and his head down.

"Do you know how much she cares about you?" Edward asked. "She hardly left your side when you were hurt, and she was willing to take on all of us if it meant keeping you and your family safe."

"I do that, too," Fang mumbled in reply.

"Did you know that she blames herself for what happened to both you and to Angel?"

Fang was silent again.

Carlisle placed a hand on Fang's shoulder. "You have to make it right with her, Fang."

Fang yanked his shoulder away. "I don't have to do anything!" he said angrily. Without saying another word, Fang turned away from them and jumped into the air, spread his black wings, and took off back towards the forest.

Carlisle and Edward watched him and sighed, then continued towards the house.

"Is Max here yet?" Edward asked when he and Carlisle reached the porch.

I nodded. "She flew in a few minutes ago. I think she's upstairs. What happened with her and Fang?"

"Just some family issues," Carlisle replied.

"I'm going to go talk to her," Edwards said. "I think she could use a friend to talk with."

I thought about that for a moment. "I'll go," I decided.

Carlisle and Edward looked at me strangely.

"What?" I asked.

"I thought you already imprinted on my daughter," Edward said.

"I did," I replied. "So?"

The two vampires looked at each other, then back at me.

"You have feelings for Max?" Edward asked, obviously picking that up from my thoughts.

I blushed, though I wouldn't admit it. "I don't know," I admitted. "Just never mind. I'll figure it out. For now, we're just friends, and she needs someone to talk to."

I turned and went into the house. As I stepped through the door, I heard Edward say to Carlisle, "What about Renesmee?"

As I headed for the stairs, I noticed Nudge and Gazzy were playing Twister with Jasper while Alice, Renesmee, Emmett, and the aliens watched in the living room. Iggy was in the kitchen teaching Rosalie how to make old-fashioned macaroni and cheese with the supplies Esme had gone out to get earlier. Esme was with them, making sure that Iggy had the pot he needed and the necessary spoons and measuring utensils, and hovering anxiously. I could tell she was nervous that a blind kid was cooking, and to be honest, I wasn't too comfortable with the idea either. I couldn't believe it was three o'clock in the morning and these kids were still up.

I walked up the stairs to the third floor and to Edward's old room. The door was closed, and I could hear quiet sobs coming from inside. I knocked lightly.

"Leave me alone, Edward. I don't want to talk," Max said from behind the door.

"It's Jacob," I replied.

There was a pause and I almost left, but then the door opened and I was looking at a red and puffy, tear-striped face. Her lip was split and I could tell her nose had been bleeding not very long ago. She had a darkening bruise around her left eye, and her face was covered with dirt. There were stripes in the dirt from her tears.

"I guess you can come in," she said quietly, opening the door wide enough for me to enter.

I went in and Max went back to the bed, where she must have been sitting for the last little while. She sat again and pulled her knees up to her chest. I sat beside her.

She looked at me curiously. "Why are you up here?" she asked.

"I thought—well, actually, Edward thought—that you might want to talk."

"I don't," she replied.

"I know," I said.

"Then why are you here?"

I looked into her too sad eyes. "I wanted to check on you."

She looked back at me with confusion. "But…why? I'm fine. I mean, Fang's the one you should be worried about. He's the one that almost died. He—"

I held up my hand for her to stop. "He's the one that's fine," I said. "It's you that I'm worried about."

"I'm not hurt," she told me. "You don't have to worry about me."

"You're not hurt physically," I said, "but the inside counts, too. I can tell that you're upset."

"I'm not upset about anything," she insisted.

Hearing her say that when her eyes were still red and her cheeks still streaked with tears, I laughed. I couldn't help it. If you were there, you might have laughed, too.

"What's so funny?" she asked me.

"You're not very convincing," I replied.

That brought out a small smile.

I looked at her again. "Are you sure you don't want to talk?" I asked seriously.

She looked away. "Fang and I had a fight."

"What about?"

"Me and him. The flock." She paused. "Venice, mostly."

"What happened in Venice?" Okay, maybe I was crossing the line a little, but I was curious.

I saw a pained expression cross her face, and was instantly sorry I asked.

"I'm sorry," I said. "It's none of my business."

"No. It's not your fault. You're just trying to help." Max forced a smile. "It means a lot." She looked deep into my eyes and asked, "Have you ever been flying?"

I laughed. "Are you kidding? I'm a werewolf, not a bird."

"Total's a dog. He can fly," she pointed out. "And I've known werewolves that can fly."

"I don't have wings."

She smiled again, this time for real. "Come with me."

She jumped off the bed and grabbed my hand. I followed her out into the hall and to the edge where the window wall used to be.

"What are you doing?" I asked, a little nervously.

She just smiled at me again and gripped my hand tighter. "Hold on." Then she jumped.

"What—!" I started, but my breath was ripped away from me as I felt myself falling, the ground rushing up to me. I wasn't sure exactly what was happening, but I was pretty sure I didn't like where this was going. To be honest, I thought she was trying either to kill or maim me, most likely maim because I'm pretty certain that fall would not have killed either of us. But somewhere between the last three seconds and the last second (I'm not sure which because, embarrassingly, I had my eyes screwed shut), she whipped out her amazing wings and soared up into the night sky.

I opened my eyes slowly when I realized that I wasn't falling anymore. First, I looked below at the trees and the Cullens' house fading into the darkness below us, then at Max, who was smiling at me. I felt her arm tighten around my waist before she did a tight spiral down twenty feet or so, and then back up. It was the scariest and most exhilarating thing I had ever experienced.

"This is amazing!" I shouted over the rush of wind. "I can't believe you guys do this all the time!"

"It beats driving," she hollered back. I looked up at her and she smiled.

I chuckled. "Would you stop doing that?" I mocked. "Smiling, I mean?"

"Oh, shut up."

Right then, I thought about morphing. I think it would have been funny to see the look on her face when she realized she was holding a wolf the size of a horse. But I decided against it when I realized how far up we were. If she dropped me, I get the funny feeling that it would hurt. But not for long.

Just as soon as I pushed that thought out of my mind, Max did something really, and I mean _REALLY _mean.

She dropped me.

Purposely.

I screamed like a little girl as I felt my stomach dropping faster than I was. I thought I was going to hurl in mid air, which would really make a mess when it hit the ground, now that I think about it. Just FYI.

I swear I was only ten feet above the trees before Max finally caught me. I hung limply in her arms, panting like…well, a dog. I was sure I had just seen my entire life flash before my eyes. The sound of her laughter brought me back from my dazed state.

"You should have seen your face!" she roared. "That was the single, most hilarious thing I have ever witnessed!"

I held on to her wrists, fearful that she might drop me again simply because she was laughing so hard.

"I think I'm ready to go back on the ground now," I said through chattering teeth, partially because of cold and partially because I was scared stupid.

"Don't be a baby," Max criticized. "I haven't shown you the best part yet." She scanned the sky above us and seemed to fix her eyes on a fluffy cloud a few thousand feet above. "How's your respiratory system?" she asked casually.

"Uh…fine?"

"Good," she said. "Hang on."

Knowing Max, I did as instructed and wrapped my arm around hers, which was wrapped around me.

"Ready?" she asked.

"I think so."

She smiled. Again. Then she flapped and shot straight into the air. She flapped again, and suddenly I felt the air pushing past me harder as her speed increased. She flapped again, and by now the wind had glued my eyelids shut and it whistled in my ears. The air became thinner, but not too thin to breathe. I felt the atmosphere around us become wet, but more like mist than rain. Suddenly, as quick as we had started, I felt Maximum stop. I started to open my wind-burnt eyes, but Max's hand stopped them.

"Wait," she said softly, holding my eyelids closed. "The light has to be right…"

There was a few second's silence, then I felt her hand slide from my eyes. I took that as my cue and opened them, not knowing what to expect. What I saw took my breath away.

We were hovering inside a cotton ball of light that goes far beyond the specification of 'blue'. All around us, the cloud danced in wisps of fog that sometimes gave a quick glimpse to the moonlit world below us before swallowing us up again. It was like swimming in soft blue cream that can never touch you, and no matter how hard you try, you can never touch it.

I searched for words to express the feelings that this sight gave me, to convey what it was that this eighth wonder could possibly symbolize, but all I could say was an awed, "Wow."

There was more silence, then Max said, "This is my little taste of heaven."

"Heaven?" I asked.

She nodded, still staring at the cream-blue surrounding cloud. "This is the kind of thing I come to whenever I can. I come to see my Angel."

I was a little confused. "Your angel?"

She nodded. "These clouds…they're a part of her. When the moon hits them the right way, they glow like Angel's wings did at night. Angel is up here, so it's my heaven."

Oh. _That _Angel.

I was at a loss for words. I could tell that images of that little girl were flooding through her mind, as I knew they must have every time she came to one of these. Her eyes were moist with memory as she stared at the cloud that stretched all around us.

"But I can only have her for a short time…" Max said sadly.

Just then, the cloud shifted direction with the wind and floated out of the moon's path. The soft blue turned to a dull, dark grey.

"…Before she's taken away from me again." Her eyes fell away from the cloud and down to me. She forced a smile. "Ready to go?"

I nodded, unable to say anything coherent for fear that I might help in bringing back painful memories.

We dove out of the cloud, and in a few minutes, we were back on the front porch of the Cullen house. We stood in front of the door silently, watching each other and listening to the hushed sounds of the night.

Finally, I asked, "Does the flock know about your secret heaven?"

"Only Fang," she replied quietly. "He thinks it's stupid."

"I think it's amazing," I heard my voice say and mentally kicked myself. I must have sounded like the lamest, most pathetic male in the world trying to use sentimental pick-up lines to get a girl. I thought for sure Max was going to burst out laughing and make fun of me any second now.

She didn't, but smiled instead. "I had a good time tonight."

Whoa! Isn't that what girls usually say after a date? Was I just on a date with Maximum Ride?

"Uh…Me, too," I said stupidly. "The flying…it was awesome."

"I liked being able to hang out with you," she said matter-of-factly.

"Oh…Well, yeah, I gue—" I didn't have time to finish my sentence.

I had every intention on finishing what I was going to say, but before I could, Max locked her arms around my neck and pushed her lips to mine. _Awk-ward_. I stood there, unsure of what I should do. Should I kiss her back? Should I push her away and explain that I was still going with Renesmee? _Was _I still going with Renesmee?

Luckily, it didn't last very long before she pulled away, smiling shyly. "Sorry," she said in an embarrassed voice. "I guess I wasn't really thinking."

"Uhh…Don't worry about it. I…understand." _I understand? As in I understand why she wanted to kiss me? What is wrong with you Jacob? Get your act together! _I told myself. "I mean, if you need a shoulder to cry on, I'm here for you." I mentally kicked myself again. I sounded like a boyfriend trying to be a therapist. "Err…You know what I mean."

She chuckled as only Maximum Ride can chuckle. "Yeah," she said. She turned to the door. "I'm going to get some real sleep now that Fang's going to be okay. I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Um, yeah. Sure," I said, watching her go into the house.

What was I getting myself into?


	16. Predators and Prey

Thanks so much for the good reviews!

This chapter is a personal favourite of mine. Be prepared for a surprise!

I won't be posting any more chapters until I get 6 more reviews as of January 16, 2009, which would bring it up to 50. Please review if you have an account and read this.

* * *

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of the Maximum Ride series.

Chapter 16

Predators and Prey

Fang's POV

Who did those two think they were, telling me what I had to do? I wasn't the one who flew off as soon as I was pulled back from the brink of death. I didn't throw the first punch in mine and Max's fight. I wasn't the one that let the flock down in Venice. All of that was Max, so why were Carlisle and Edward ragging on me? And what about Max? She had such an attitude problem lately that it wasn't funny.

I had had enough of their criticism and went for a fly on my own, where I could forget about Max and the flock. Turns out my flight actually gave me more time to think about them.

Angel came to mind first, of course. She was always on my mind, and everyone else's, too. We all missed her the same amount, I think, but some seemed to be taking it harder than others. I would understand if Gazzy missed her the most, but I don't think he did. I would also understand if Total missed her more than any of us, but I don't think that was the case either. They all changed drastically once she died, and all of them in their own way. I think they all had the same sized holes in their hearts where she used to be. I was the only one that really stayed the same.

I'm pretty sure Max changed the most out of all of us, though. She used to be so sure of herself and she always knew what to do. Now she second-guessed everything she did and blamed other people for her problems; me, mostly. I noticed she called me a jerk a lot.

I mean, what did I ever do to her to make her so angry at me? I wasn't being the jerk; she was! She blamed me for losing Angel. It wasn't my fault. She was the one with the deactivation device. She was the one that didn't get there on time. But still, she both blamed me and counted on me to pick up her slack. I had to be her reassurance. Well, I was done with that. She was supposed to be the leader, not me. She could take care of her own problems.

And so I flew, debating whether or not to ever go back to the flock. I bet Max would have liked it if I left. Then I'd be out of her hair for good. She'd never even miss me. She might not have even noticed I was gone.

I flew for the better part of two hours until I was finally too tired to fly any more. The sun had just peeked over the horizon when I settled on a big tree branch at the edge of a clearing. I tucked in my wings and leaned back against the trunk, letting myself become still until I knew I would be invisible to anyone who happened to walk by. Then I closed my eyes and let myself drift into sleep.

My dreams were filled with pictures of each and every one of the flock, memories of the moments and triumphs we've shared, and nightmares of the horrors we've faced at the School and on the run. I heard our cheers, saw our stack, watched us comforting each other. I dreamt of when we thought we had lost Iggy to his real family, and I dreamt of when he came back to us. I dreamt of when I left the flock with Gazzy and Ig, and I dreamt of when we returned. I dreamt of when the real Max had been replaced by an 'improved' version, and of when the real Max came back and saved us all. I dreamt of losing Angel, but there was no happy ending to follow that one. Finally, I dreamt of flying pigs. I don't know what that one was supposed to mean.

I woke up to voices below me talking loudly. Shouting, almost. And then I froze, scared to breathe much less move. I knew whose voice it was.

"You mean to tell me that the bosses sent you?" Vatani demanded angrily. "It was supposed to be our job to get the birds!"

"Well, then you should have done your jobs," a younger voice said. I recognized it, but couldn't place where I had heard it before.

"You don't even have experience with these things!" Vatani shouted. "And you haven't been a Feral long enough to know how to use your abilities."

"Aro thinks I'm more suited for the job than you and your group of alley cats. If you have a problem with his decision, take it up with him."

I watched the smaller Feral closely. She seemed familiar, but I couldn't tell why. Her blond, curly hair was streaked with black and she was smaller than any of the Ferals we had encountered earlier. She was prettier than Vatani, and creepier, too, and she seemed too young to be a Feral; at least, not one out in the field.

"It's not my fault the freaks had help," Vatani said in her defence.

The smaller one chuckled. "Lookie who's calling who a freak, Miss Puddy Tat."

"Hey, I don't have wings."

"You have claws," she pointed out. "And fur."

"So do you, Ariel."

Why was that name so familiar?

"I'm just saying that things have gotten weird ever since Aro, Marcus, and Caius took over the School," Vatani continued. "I mean, what do they want with the mutants, anyways? It's not like they'll be any use to them."

"Last time I checked," Ariel said kind of creepily, "it was…frowned upon to question authority. Especially when that authority can kill you in two seconds. They have been known to do that."

Vatani frowned and crossed her arms. "Since when are you the knower of all things?"

"Since I joined," the girl replied. "And since I could do this."

Ariel's eyes became focused and I froze even more than I already was. I had seen that look before.

"You have to trust me on this," Ariel said casually.

"I trust you on this…" Vatani replied, a blank look on her face.

My heart rate sped up, I'm sure of it.

"I'm going to take care of the bird-kids," Ariel continued, but I knew that her name wasn't Ariel.

"You can take care of the bird-kids," Vatani said.

Ariel's expression returned to normal, as did Vatani's. "Good," Ariel said sweetly. "I'm glad we understand each other."

Vatani glared at the smaller girl. "Did you just mind-control me?" she asked angrily.

"Who, moi?" Ariel inquired innocently. "Surely you wouldn't think lil 'ol me would do something like that."

"You know what I'm thinking," Vatani said.

"Not yet, but I will," Ariel replied, focusing her eyes again. She got a funny look on her face.

"What?" the older Feral asked.

Ariel didn't say a word, but her eyes turned towards the tree I was sitting in. Towards me. A vicious smile spread across her lips and she stepped towards my tree. I flinched, which was a problem for my camouflage. I knew that I was no longer invisible because of Vatani's surprised expression. Ariel wasn't surprised though.

"Why, Fang," she said in a too-creepy-to-be-sincerely-sweet voice. "We were just talking about you."

I stood quickly, ready for flight, but I remained on the branch. I was too stunned to move, but not to speak.

"You're not here," I said, trying to convince myself more than anything.

"But I am here, Fang. Don't you see me? I'm standing right here," she said, once again too sweetly.

"No…" I replied, my breath catching in my throat. "You're dead. I saw you."

"What's the matter Fang? You don't look happy to see me." She took another step towards the tree, this time with purpose. "Aren't you happy to see me?"

I shook my head in disbelief. "You're not here," I repeated, suddenly angry. "You're not here!"

She smiled again. "What's the matter Fang? You look like you just saw a ghost." She moved forward again, taking even strides.

"YOU ARE NOT HERE!" I shouted at her, backing half a step before I nearly fell out of the tree.

"See, that's where you're wrong," she said, looking straight up at me. Then, without warning, she jumped straight into the air and shot her pure white wings out from the slits in her sweater. She stopped in front of me and my eyes widened in horror as she hovered in mid-air right before my eyes. "It's not a ghost you're seeing, Fang," she said, then lowered her voice to a whisper. "It's an angel."

That was it for me. I turned and spread my wings, on my way to beat it out of there, but I had been so wrapped up in this girl called Ariel that I hadn't even noticed Vatani sneaking up on me. Before I made my complete one hundred and eighty degree turn, I came face-to-face with the female Feral. In a second, she had me pinned up against the tree trunk with her arm pressed to my throat, but not too hard that I couldn't breathe.

"What do we do now, oh Psychic Wonder?" she asked bitterly.

Ariel seemed to think for a moment, not that I really cared about anything besides getting out of there. "A change of plans," she said, joining Vatani on the branch.

"We kill him?" she inquired hopefully, pushing her arm against my throat harder.

"No," Ariel replied thoughtfully. "I say we use him as bait to get the others."

Great. Now they were going to kidnap me. Weren't a couple of vampires supposed to show up right about now? You know, to save my butt yet again.

"And exactly how are we supposed to get him all the way back to Venice without proper transportation methods?"

"Who said anything about taking him to Venice?" Ariel asked.

Vatani was confused. "Well, if not to the School, then where are we taking him?"

"Who said anything about taking him anywhere?"

Okay, now I was confused, too. If they weren't going to kidnap me, what were their plans? And what was with this girl that I had known ever since she was a baby? Why was she so creepy? And why was she alive?

I didn't have much time to ponder any of this before Ariel stepped forward and took Vatani's place at my throat. I began to thrash under her incredibly strong grip, hoping that the younger one would prove weaker. It didn't exactly work out like that, because I made the mistake of looking her in the eyes.

"You're going to settle down now," she said calmly, and I unwillingly felt myself obeying. Uh-oh. Where were those vampires?

"Now I want you to forget everything except Venice," she continued. "You have to go there. That's where the answers are."

Huh? What did she mean 'forget everything except Venice'? She couldn't force me to forget anything. As far as I knew, that kind of thing was impossible unless you get bonked on the head or brainwashed. I had never experienced brainwashing before. Not even at the—

The—?

Uh-oh.

I knew then I had to get away immediately. I had to get back to the—the what? Or was it the who? Where? What was happening? Why couldn't I remember?!

I stared at the familiar face before me, but suddenly she wasn't so familiar anymore. I didn't know who she was. Or what she was. Why did she have fur? Why was she holding me? What was I doing in a tree? I remembered something about—wait, that was gone, too!

I guess my fear and confusion must have reflected on my face, because the girl with fur that held me asked, "What's the matter, Fang? Lose your train of thought?"

Who was Fang? Was she talking to me? "Who—who are you?" I asked, suddenly really scared.

She grinned and let go of me, but I stayed pressed against the tree trunk, breathing hard and in panicky rasps.

"Keep forgetting until we're out of sight," the girl with blond hair said. "You never saw us."

Then she and her companion were gone, from my sight and from my mind.

My first thought: Uhh…How do I get down?

* * *

PLEASE REVIEW!


	17. Fashionably Missing

**Yeah, so I'm sorry I took so long to post. One: I had to write this chapter. Two: I had to write for my other fanfic story (called the Hardy Boys and the Cullen Caper, by the way. Y'all should check it!) Three: I had an actual book to work on, as well as the sequel to it (the names of which I will not mention over the internet until they are released to the public, in which case I **_**may **_**claim fanfic stories I write about them in the future…) Four: I at first was completely serious about the whole 50 reviews thing, but I kind of gave up on it cuz I want this out there.**

**Enjoy.**

**Review!**

**PEACE OUT!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own these things…the only stuff that's mine is the story idea and the Ferals, which are not even in this chapter. Hehe…neither is a specific bird kid we have come to know and love, but may not recognize you…**

Chapter 17

Fashionably Missing

**Maximum's POV**

I slept in until twelve o'clock that morning, woken only by the smell of bacon and eggs cooking. I smiled. Iggy must have been at it again for the second time since the flock fell apart. Maybe we were healing. Maybe it would turn out alright after all.

Hanging on the door handle at the end of Alice's room, where I had slept, was a small black dress with diamond studs lining the neck and the hem of it. All it had to hold it up were spaghetti straps. She had even set out the matching heels to go with it. It was the ugliest thing I had ever seen. Did she honestly expect me to _wear _that piece of designer disaster?

For the sake of her feelings, I put it on. I grimaced at the sight of myself in the oversized mirror, but decided to pull through it. With a sigh, I went into the hall—noticing that they had fixed the window—and downstairs, awkwardly clunking in the heels.

Turns out it wasn't Iggy that cooked. The flock was sitting around the table in the dining room to a bacon and egg brunch that Esme was just finishing dishing out. I suspected that they all slept in almost at long as I did. All of the vampires were standing around the kitchen, except for the three aliens. Jacob was there too, and I flashed a smile in his direction before I realized that the flock (except for Iggy) were all staring at me. I shot them a look that said _don't say a word_. Alice had a crazy woman look.

"Max!" she said upon seeing me. "You look amazing!"

Rosalie was equally impressed. "You _have _to let me give you a makeover!" she declared.

"Uhh…" I didn't want to be rude by outwardly saying no, but how else could I put it? I wished then that I had listened to my mom when she was trying to teach me how to use proper manners. "Uhh…Thanks, but I'm…allergic to make-up," I lied.

"Liar," I heard Total mutter form the floor beside Jacob's feet and glared at him.

"Oh…" Rosalie said disappointedly. "That's too bad."

"What's up?" Iggy asked the Gasman. "Why are they all googly-mouthed over Max?"

"Oh, I'm sorry dear," Esme said apologetically to Iggy. "I forgot that you can't see what's happening. Max is wearing a black diamond-trimmed dress and high heels. She looks very beautiful."

I rolled my eyes, but Iggy smiled. "Is it short?" he asked.

"Short enough," Total said.

Suddenly he erupted into laughter. I glared at him as thought he could see me.

"Are you kidding me?" he asked hysterically. "If that's true, she must look like a woolly mammoth! She hasn't shaved her legs in three months!"

Now that was just plain mean. I glared at him again, then rolled my eyes at the lost effort as the rest of the flock joined in his laughter. Even Jacob and a few of the vampires let out a snicker.

"I _have _wax strips," I muttered.

"You might use them once in a while," the dog on the floor piped up. That brought more laughter at my expense.

I watched the flock impatiently, waiting for them to settle down and stop making fun of me, when I realized that they weren't all there. I turned to Edward, who was leaning against the stove casually.

"Where's Fang?" I asked him.

He stood up straight and his eyes widened. "He didn't come back last night?"

"I don't know," I said. "I was sleeping. You guys are the ones who are awake twenty-four seven, three hundred and sixty five. Wouldn't you know better than me?"

Carlisle and Edward looked at each other, then back at me.

"He didn't come back with you, did he?" I asked them.

Carlisle took up the explanation. "Edward and I had a talk with him. About you, and about Angel. He didn't exactly appreciate it."

"He flew off before we got back," Edward continued. "I assumed he just had to cool down a bit."

"You just let him go?!" I demanded.

By now the flock had stopped eating and they were watching us. I think they were as uneasy as I was at this news.

"He can take care of himself," Edward said.

I stepped up to him angrily. "That's not the point!" I shouted in his face. "Fang's mad at me. What if he leaves? Nobody asked you to stick you're eternal nose into it! You just make everything worse all the time!" I yelled in rage, shoving Edward back into the stove.

The flock stood from the table. "Max, calm down," I heard Iggy say. "It's no big deal. Fang's probably just out blowing steam. If you want, we can go look for him."

"You don't even have to do that," Isabelle Evens piped up from the doorway. She stepped in, followed by the other Max and Michael. "If you have a picture of him, I can see where he is."

I stepped back, keeping my glare pointed at Edward. "This may come as a shock, lady, but when you're running from psychopath genetic scientists, you don't exactly have time to stop at Walmart to get family photos."

She raised her eyebrows. "I'll take that as a no, then?"

"I can help," Renesmee said, going over to Isabelle. "Do mental pictures help?"

She shrugged. "It couldn't hurt."

I turned my attention to them and watched Renesmee carefully as she lightly placed her hand on Isabelle's cheek with her back to me. Isabelle's eyes became vacant and she seemed to see air itself for a moment before her eyes locked with Renesmee's again and she nodded. Isabelle closed her eyes and Max and Michael stood behind her. I didn't understand why until I saw her muscles relax and she fell backwards. The two boys caught her and held her up.

Carlisle stepped forward with a concerned look but Michael told him to stay back. "She's fine," he insisted rudely. "Just sleeping. She does that."

"Vampires can't sleep," Carlisle said with confusion.

"Dude, she's an _alien_," Michael said. "We're not your typical vampires."

We all watched Isabelle for a few moments, wondering what was happening in her behind her closed eyes. In another moment, she opened them. Renesmee removed her hand.

"He's in the woods somewhere. The forest is a bit dense, but not too bad," Isabelle said as the boys let go of her. "But something's wrong."

My heart skipped a beat and the flock stiffened.

"He seems lost…confused, maybe. I couldn't get a clear picture of him," she continued.

"Is he hurt?" I asked.

She shook her head. "I don't know."

Jacob stood up. "What are we waiting for?" he asked. "Let's get out there and start looking. I'll get Seth, Leah, Embry, and Quil searching out from here, and Sam and his pack will scatter and sniff. I'll stay with you guys and be a link. If they find something, I can let you know."

"I gotta get out of this dress," I muttered, running out the door and upstairs to change back into my clothes. I was back in a flash, and the flock and the Cullens were already on the front porch waiting. Jacob was already a wolf.

"We'll cover the air," I said to the flock. "Blood-suckers and Jacob can cover the ground." I noticed the vampires looked offended. "Sorry," I muttered before we took off.

I thought that with our raptor vision we'd be able to see Fang easily. I thought—hoped—that it would only take a few minutes. I was _way _off.

The search went on for at least an hour. The tops of the trees were thick and too hard to see through immediately. I knew he wasn't anywhere near anyways, because Edward couldn't hear his thoughts. I was beginning to worry badly about him, and I felt the flock's uneasiness, too.

When an hour had passed, and I my nerves were standing on edge from searching and worrying, I finally heard a howl from below us. Hope flooded me as the flock and I did a banking turn and spiralled downward. We landed lightly and joined the Cullens, the aliens, and Jacob.

Before I had a chance to ask, Edward said, "They found him."

"Where?" I asked breathlessly.

Edward looked at Jacob, sharing a silent conversation. He turned to me. "In the woods. Deep. Jacob will lead. Iggy can ride on his back, and you guys can ride with a vamp each."

"I'd rather fly," I said. "I can keep up."

"I'm riding with Max," Total declared, jumping into my arms.

I nodded. "Let's go."

**I apologise for this chapter. I know it's boring, but I'll make up for it next time. REVIEW!**


	18. Fractured and Fearful

**Sorry it's been taking so long. I have been busy trying to get my first actual book revised and ready for whatever happens, and I've also been trying to finish up the rough of the sequel to it. Plus homework and watching the 4 little ones…and then I had to write this at the same time as I'm working on the Hardy Boys…and then homework (I'm actually posting this while I'm supposed to be doing it) and chores (I ditched them to do homework)…plus I only have Dial-up so it takes FOREVER to do anything… You can see my problem.**

**Anyways, here's the next chapter. I'm sorry if it's a long time before I can post again, but there are things I am forced to do. I'll try not to be over eight days, but no promises.**

**Disclaimer: I still don't own the books/TV show I use. That's why it's called FANfiction.**

Chapter 18

Fractured and Fearful

**Fang's POV**

I was scared out of my wits.

There I was, crouched in a ball on the unfamiliar forest floor to try to seem invisible to the four horse-sized wolves surrounding me. I was under the impression that it was working, because soon after I stopped moving, they were no longer staring at me, but instead started sniffing the ground purposefully. If I stayed still long enough, maybe they would go away.

Then I made the mistake of sneezing, which drew their attention back to me. The sandy coloured one stepped towards me. I felt my heart beating in my chest at an alarming rate. Why was it going so fast?

My breath quickened as the massive canine stepped closer and closer and lowered its head so that its nose was a foot from mine. Its brown eyes peered deep into my eyes and I felt my fear rising. I pushed myself slowly backwards with my feet and hands, constantly under the wolf's watch. When I was far enough back, I stood slowly, never taking my eyes off of the wolf. When I finally reached my full height, I made my move.

I whirled on a dime and took off as fast as my legs could carry me, which I noticed was pretty fast. I darted through the trees, not daring to look behind me. If I was going to be attacked by a pack of wolves, I would rather not see it coming. Then I would see my whole life flash before my eyes, but thing is, I didn't remember any of my life.

If you have amnesia, is it possible to watch your whole life flash before your eyes? Would I see what I can't remember, or would it just be a white flash before it was all over? Just something to think about.

I only made it a little ways before the chocolate coloured wolf ended up in front of me, blocking my path. I made a quick ninety degree turn and continued running, only to be stopped by the light grey beast. The sandy wolf closed in behind me with the last one.

All my ways out were blocked by the enormous animals and I looked around at them in fear. They lowered their heads and advanced on me; probably so they could eat me easier. It wouldn't take much. Just one snap with those jaws and I would history.

They backed me up until I was pressed against a massive tree trunk with no more space to safely move anywhere. I braced myself, as ready as I would ever be to face death even though tears streamed from my eyes.

What a time to go. I didn't even have any memories to think about, to remind me of good times that I had in my life. I couldn't take comfort in knowing that my family was safe, because I didn't even know if I had a family. I didn't have a life to flash before my eyes in that moment before death.

Suddenly, I didn't feel so bad. I guess it was because I realized that if I had no memories, then I really had nothing to lose. If you still have something when you don't have any memories, you're one lucky guy. Anyways, I decided I would go out peacefully; let them take me if that was what they wanted. I didn't want it, but it wasn't in my control. I sank down until I was sitting on the ground facing them and rested my elbows on my knees.

"There," I said simply.

Unless I was imagining it, they looked at me funny.

I sighed impatiently, still scared but accepting my fate. "Don't bother being polite and offering final words. If you're going to eat me, get it over with so I don't have to deal with this anymore."

The wolves looked at each other, then at me. Then they sat down.

I stared at them for a few moments. "So I guess that means you're not going to eat me?"

They all shook their heads no at the same time.

I sighed and leaned against the tree, my problems swirling through my empty mind. Here I was, surrounded by four giant wolves that seemed to understand what I was saying, I had no memories of any of my life before a few hours ago, I didn't know anybody, and there was no one around that knew me. I didn't even know what my own name was. Everything was blank.

I stared at the wolves that were still watching me curiously. I shook my head. "This is too much," I said aloud, pushing my hands through my hair. This was too overwhelming for me to handle, and right then, I literally broke out into silent tears and buried my head in my hands.

It was a minute or so before I heard running feet approaching, _very_ fast. I felt the ground shaking as whoever was coming got closer and closer, and a spark of hope flickered for me. Maybe whoever was coming knew who I was.

I looked up and saw the four wolves staring towards the woods behind them—in front of me. The four stood and parted so that I could see past them. I stood up so I could see better.

"Fang!" I heard someone shouting. I could tell it was a female voice, and it was getting closer.

"Fang, we're over here!" I heard another voice yelling.

And then I saw them coming and I stiffened. Running at me were at least twelve people, and they were running _fast_. Actually, there were only nine people running. Two of the ones running were holding a kid on their back, and one girl was _flying _above them. She actually had _wings_! There was another overgrown wolf with them, leading the way with a kid wearing sunglasses riding on its back. Either I was hallucinating, or something was very wrong with this group.

I pushed myself against the tree again as the blond girl with wings landed in front of me.

"Fang!" she said with excitement and relief, throwing her arms around me. I didn't exactly know what to do, so I just stood there. "I was so worried about you," she said in my ear. "I'm so glad you're okay!" She pulled back, keeping her hands on my shoulders, and examined the look of…whatever it was on my face. "Fang? What's wrong?" she asked.

At that moment, the rest of the stampede joined her. I saw that everyone who came that wasn't pale and topaz-eyed or a wolf had wings, too, and I watched them warily. The ones with wings all ran over and group-hugged me, and I cringed at their touch. I didn't recognize any of them.

They noticed my reaction and pulled away as well, and they eyed me the same way as the first did. The strange pale people approached and I retreated instinctively. I didn't know any of them either, and I was scared.

"What's wrong?" the first winged girl asked again. When I didn't answer, she took a step back and looked me over with concern.

The newcomer wolf approached me slowly and the other wolves turned and ran off into the woods. This one was bigger than the first four, and it was russet coloured. It lowered its head in front of me and advanced until it was only inches from me. I saw its huge teeth, felt its hot breath against my face, and panicked. My breathing quickened, my heart rate sped up. I felt the sweat break out on my forehead as I stared what could easily be death in the eyes, and I began to tremble. Hot tears formed again in my eyes and I wished the beast would just go away.

"Jacob, you're scaring him," the pale-faced one with honey-blond hair and a military stance said. "I don't know why, but he's scared of you."

The wolf looked back at the crowd that was watching me with concern and confusion, then it backed away and sat down.

"Fang…" the blond bird girl said, approaching me calmly. "It's us. The flock. Your family."

I took a sharp breath. "You—you know me?" I asked in a shaky voice.

She gave me a strange look. "Of course I know you. We all do. And you know us."

I kept my eyes on her, keeping myself against the tree. Another pale guy came up beside her, this one with bronze coloured hair.

"He doesn't know you," he said slowly, his eyes on me. "He doesn't remember any of you."

How did he know? Was he the one that did this to me? Could I trust any of them? "Who are you?" I asked nervously, unsure if I wanted to know. "How do you know me?"

The bronze-haired one looked at me, then back at the others, then back at me again. "What happened Fang?" he asked me.

"I—I don't remember," I said choppily. "I can't—I just—I don't know!"

Another man with topaz eyes and pale skin stepped forward. "Fang—" he started, but I cut him off.

"Is that my name?" I asked desperately. Tears started in my eyes again. "Please—what's going on? Where am I? _Who _am I?" I was hyperventilating by now, and my panic had risen to another level now that I was talking.

"Jasper!" the one with bronze hair said to the one with honey hair. "Calm him down!"

"I'm trying," the honey-haired one said. "He's too hyped up and scared."

I looked around them wildly and realized that these people were not ordinary at all. "What are you?" I demanded to know.

"Try to remember, Fang," the blond winged one said soothingly. "It's us. Remember the Cullens? They're the vampires that helped us. Maxwell, Michael, and Isabelle are the aliens from Roswell. Jacob is a werewolf that became friends with them. Think, Fang."

Vampires? Werewolves? Aliens? That was too much crazy information, and I didn't believe a lick of it. Surely people with wings that tried to convince my that I had friends who were vampires and werewolves couldn't be friends, no matter how friendly they seemed.

Without even really thinking about it, I bolted away from them, running as fast as I could. I didn't get far at all before I suddenly found myself facing the bronze haired boy again. How did he get there so fast? I didn't spend much time thinking about it. I darted around him quickly and kept running. At one point, I looked over my shoulder and saw him standing where I had left him, watching me with confusion.

I turned my attention back in front of me just soon enough to see the dark-haired, big-built pale dude appear in front of me before I ran smack into him and bounced off. It was like hitting a brick wall, not that I would know what that feels like.

That really freaked me out. Maybe the girl wasn't lying about them being vampires.

I scrambled away from him and pushed myself back up. I was just about ready to start fighting my way out of there if I had to, but one thing was for sure: I was _not _going with these freaks.

By the time I was back on my feet, I was surrounded by the pale people, the wolf, and the kids with wings. I looked around at them, on the verge of hysteria.

"Why can't you just leave me alone?" I pleaded. "Please—I don't want any trouble."

"Fang." It was the blond girl again. "Fang, don't be scared. We'll figure out what's wrong."

"They—They're vampires?" I asked her, gesturing to the pale people. She nodded. "And he's a werewolf?" I pointed to the beast sitting beside her. Once again, she nodded. "And you have wings?"

She looked at me funny. "That should come as no shock, Fang. You do, too."

I stared at her. "No I don't," I argued. "I think I would have noticed if I had wings."

She smiled, and I noticed that she was pretty. It's not really something you see when you're scared out of your wits.

"Are you sure about that?" she asked.

With the way she said it, I _wasn't_ entirely sure. I shrugged my shoulders and felt muscles move that shouldn't have been there. I focused on those muscles and felt something big and soft brush against my back. I pushed the muscles out and heard a slight rustle behind me as something poked out of my shirt. The girl smiled again.

I turned my head slowly and looked at what should have been empty space past my shoulder. Instead, the space was occupied by a large black wing. _My _large black wing. I whipped my head around and saw the other one, equally as long as the first and equally black. I turned back to the girl.

"Vampires," I said slowly, suddenly dizzy. "Aliens, werewolves…and wings…"

The girl suddenly looked concerned. "Fang? Are you okay?"

I shook my head to clear the cobwebs and felt myself sway. _Steady, _I told myself, but it wasn't really working out for me. One last look at my wings, and the ground rushed up to meet me before everything went black.


	19. A Tale of Two Teenagersand a Werewolf

**Yeah…So I guess it's been more than eight days, huh? Well, what can I say? I would have had it done four days ago, but I've been sick with a throat and ear infection since Monday afternoon. Besides that, there's been more babysitting and a small problem of writer's block in three out of four of my stories (only two of which are Fan-Fictions). I'm happy to say that I am **_**REALLY **_**close to finishing my second actual book. I got over the writer's block for that one today. **

**So anyways, I'm glad you liked the previous chapter! I hope you like this one, too, but I warn you, the last half of it might not be all that great because I'm still sick and I just finished it. Please review anyways!**

**Disclaimer: Yeah, so I still don't own these characters or the original stories of Stephanie Meyers and James Patterson. If I did, I guess this wouldn't be fanfiction. I don't own the Roswell Aliens either, but their not important…yet…**

Chapter 19

A Tale of Two Teenagers…and a Werewolf

**Maximum's POV**

"Max, what's wrong with Fang?" Nudge asked me. Again.

"I told you, honey; I don't know," I replied, keeping my eyes on the figure on the couch. His chest rose and fell steadily with his easy breathing, and he seemed completely normal, as though nothing was wrong. But what we had witnessed only a little while ago disproved that in so many ways.

Iggy was pacing like a maniac. "Isn't there something one of these vampires can do? What about Alice? Can she, like, see what happened?"

I shook my head. "Alice sees the future."

"What about Isabelle?"

"Isabelle only sees where people are and their dreams," I said.

"Edward?" he asked.

"Edward hears thoughts."

"Maxwell?"

"He heals people and makes weird green force-fields."

"What about Jasper?"

I rolled my eyes. "He affects feelings," I said with just a little irritation.

"Emmett?"

"He hits things."

"Rosalie?"

"She stares at mirrors all day."

He huffed in frustration. "What about Michael?"

"I don't know what he does…"

"What about Bella?"

I stared at him. "You're serious?"

"What about Esme?"

I rolled my eyes again, wishing he could see my annoyed expression. "She's nothing but a mom."

"What about Renesmee?"

"No!"

"Carlisle?"

"He's a doctor!"

"Jacob?"

"HE'S NOT A VAMPIRE!" I practically screamed. Man, he sure knew how to aggravate me. I don't even think he was meaning to, but he was doing a good job.

I sighed. "I'm sorry, Ig. I know you're just worried about him. We all are."

Iggy stopped pacing and sat on a chair beside me. He was looking impatient. "Is he awake yet?"

"Nope."

It was his turn to sigh. "This doesn't make any sense. Are you sure he's not faking it? It might be a prank."

"Edward said his thoughts were genuine. And we all know Fang doesn't joke. He really has no idea who we are," Nudge said, staring at Fang.

"He probably just had his head kicked in one too many times and has to deal with the consequences now," Total, who was half asleep on the floor by my feet, said.

The Gasman had stayed relatively quiet since we found Fang. In fact, I don't think he said anything at all. He just had this blank look on his face.

I turned to him now. "What's up, Gazzy? You haven't said a word practically all day."

He didn't look at me, but rather kept his blank blue eyes focused on Fang. "What if we lose him, too?" he asked quietly. "What if he never remembers us and we lose him because of it?"

"We won't," I tried to assure him. "He won't leave us. We're his family. He doesn't have anyone else, whether he remembers us or not."

"Yeah…" he said, still avoiding my eyes. "But what if he's never the same Fang? He was always the strong silent one of us all, and I don' think he can be like that anymore. He doesn't remember anything…not even his own name."

I didn't know what to say. In some way, what Gazzy was saying made sense. How could Fang ever be the same if he didn't remember everything?

But then I remembered what had happened the previous night. His heart had hardened ever since Angel, and he was never the same again. Maybe it would be best if he never remembered.

I stood suddenly from my seat beside the couch, unwilling to think about it. "Let's go outside for a while," I suggested, a little too heartily. "We could use some fighting practice, or at least some fresh air."

The flock agreed reluctantly and we all filed outside, leaving Fang on the couch and the vampires in the kitchen. We were all so bummed out that none of us even bothered skipping the four steps to the house, even though it would have been simple and quick and totally like us. When outside, we just kind of kicked the grass and moped around. None of us could keep Fang off our minds.

It was only a few minutes before everyone else joined us outside, obviously as bothered as we were by Fang's behaviour. We were all really quiet. Even Nudge, who hardly ever stopped chatting, was silent. We all just waited for whatever would happen next. That was when we heard it.

Coming from inside the house was the sound of heavy things falling over and glass breaking. There was a thud, a clank, a cry of pain, and then the front door burst open. Fang was standing in the doorway with a freaked out expression.

All of us, including vampires, aliens, werewolves (well, there was actually only Jacob that fits in this category), and bird-kids, instinctively started towards him to try to explain. I think that just made it worse.

Fang's eyes widened in terror at the sight of us approaching, and he made the decision to charge. It was actually kind of stupid of him, but he wasn't himself. Though any one of us except Total could have stopped him easily, we just let him run right on past us. It was rather silly, actually, to see him running like a maniac like that. We knew he wouldn't get far at that pace though, especially since he was forgetting to keep his wings in so he wouldn't catch air with them and slow down. Then he did something really stupid.

He spread his wings out, jumped into the air, and flapped.

He was doing a good job for about two seconds, until he started flapping his right wing harder than the left and he started a barrel-roll. That's when the screaming started.

I (and just about everyone else, with the exception of Iggy) couldn't help but let out a chuckle, then a snicker, then a laugh, and finally almost all of us (again with the exception of Iggy) were rolling on the ground with our laughter. Trust me: you do NOT know what funny is until you've seen an avian-mutant do an accidental barrel roll while screaming "Make it stop! Make it stop!" Poor Iggy was missing the show and kept asking what was happening. Poor, poor, Iggy. I decided to make it a point to tell him all about it later, or at least get Renesmee to show him with her vampire-memory-projectile…thingy…

Finally, I regained my composure and rushed to help Fang before he hurled all over the Cullens' yard. I grabbed his arm and halted him in mid-air before I pulled him to the ground. He landed with a hard thump on his behind.

"Dude," I said with a teasing smile, "that's not how you learn how to fly."

Fang scrambled to his feet and away from me.

I sighed and roll my eyes. "Come on, Fang. You can't avoid who you are forever, no matter how freakish you seem." I took a very non-threatening step towards him and he backed away further, putting his fists up in front of him in some pitiful attempt to scare me off or something.

"Don't—Don't come any closer!" he warned. He wasn't very convincing. It was so weird seeing him acting that way. Very un-Fang-like.

I didn't listen to him. Naturally.

"Look," I said, "you're an avian-hybrid, just like me and Nudge and Gazzy and Iggy. You have wings just like us. It's pretty obvious that we know each other. If you can't see that…well, you're stupid, to put it bluntly."

"Max," Edward interrupted, "don't you think you're being just a little pushy?"

"You're the mind-reader," I said. "You know exactly what I'm thinking."

"I just don't think—" he started again, but a quick glare from Yours Truly silenced him.

I turned back to Fang and took another step. He backed up again, looking more confused than scared. "Come on, Fang," I said. "Let's just go back inside the house and we can talk about all of this over a nice cup of tea or something."

I reached out to put my arm around him and lead him back to the house but he pulled away. "Don't touch me," he said, sounding a lot like a germaphobe.

I ignored him, but grabbed his wrist instead and headed for the house. He stood rooted to the spot. "Let go of me," he said, and honestly, he sounded a little scary, like the old Fang did when he was really angry.

I didn't let go, but turned to him instead. "Fang," I started, "this is ridiculous. You're acting—"

Yup. My sentence was cut short before I could tell Fang that he was being a big baby. But you know, it's really hard to talk while someone's slamming their fist in your jaw. I dropped Fang's wrist and put a hand to my jaw. I chuckled, even though I was on my last string of patience, and turned back to Fang.

"Normally," I said to him, "this is when I would tackle you and we'd fight it out like the normal mutant bird-kids that we are. But since you're not really yourself right now, I'm going to let that one pass; IF you come back to the house WITHOUT HITTING ME AGAIN!" I was yelling by the end of it, and Fang was looking scared again.

Edward stepped between me and him with a cross expression focused on me. I didn't have to be a mind-reader like him to get the picture, so I backed off.

Edward turned to Fang. "Listen," he said softly, as if he was talking to a little brother rather that a complete stranger that he'd only met the day before, "We're all friends here. You, me, Maximum, Michael, Nudge, Bella—all of us. I get it if you don't believe it right now. You're pretty confused. I can tell. But if you let us, we're going to try to help you remember everything."

Fang shifted his eyes away from Edward's. He was obviously struggling with the words Edward had just said to him. Why was it that he was considering Edward's offer to help but wouldn't give mine a second thought? It's not like I was rude about it or anything.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, Fang sighed and nodded. "Alright. I'll hear you out."

Edward smiled. "Good."

I rolled my eyes at his do-goodyness and our entire crowd filed towards the Cullen house. I fell behind the lot, on account of my kicking at the grass and moping about Fang not trusting me. I was so caught up in my moping that I didn't even notice that Jacob had joined me until he said my name.

I turned to him. "Oh. Hi," I said, still moping.

He shoved his hands in his pockets, looking awkward. "Look, Max, about last night—"

"Why won't he believe me?" I asked distractedly. "I've been one of his best friends for our entire lives. I've been with him through thick and thin, good and bad. For Pete's sake, I've kissed him on countless occasions!" I ranted.

"Max—" Jacob tried, but I was too busy to notice.

"And suddenly he doesn't trust me at all. It's bad enough he didn't like me yesterday, but now he doesn't even want to be around me at any point in time whatsoever! Why doesn't he get that I only want to help?"

"Max!"

I turned on him. "What?" I demanded sharply as the last of the vampires and my flock disappeared into the house. "What could you possibly have to say that's more important that what I'm feeling?"

He hesitated and I tapped my foot impatiently. "Well?" I asked, getting a little annoyed. "What is it? Spit it—"

Before I could finish my sentence, Jacob pulled me close to him and pressed his warm lips against mine. I drew in a startled breath, since that was really unexpected, but in all honesty, it felt…good.

I closed my eyes with pleasure and wrapped my arms around his neck, returning his…gesture of affection. I pressed myself closer to his strong, warm figure and allowed him to hold me there for a few seconds before he finally pulled back and gazed into my eyes.

"I think I'm in love with you, Maximum Ride," he said seriously and semi-out-of-breath.

I was speechless, to say the least. Words were not able to express my shock, confusion, and utter disbelief in the words that were being said to me. Finally, a different voice broke through my trance and made some headway: the Voice in my head.

"_This could complicate matters, Max," _it said.

"_What do you know?" _I asked it.

"_I know everything that you know. I'm in your head, remember?"_

"_How could I forget?"_

"_My point is," _Voice continued, _"you do not have time for another serious relationship. You have to concentrate on Fang. He needs you right now."_

"_The only person he seems to think he needs is Edward," _I retorted. _"He doesn't trust me anymore."_

"_He doesn't trust anyone, Max."_

"_Why can't I focus on both?"_

"_Because you can't save the world without Fang," _Voice replied.

"_And I can without Angel?"_

The Voice grew silent, and I continued to stare at Jacob, incapable of allowing words to leave my mouth. Jacob kept his eyes on me, too, obviously waiting for me to respond.

But yet another voice beat me to it.

"I thought that you loved me," Renesmee said quietly from directly behind Jacob.

I saw something like embarrassment and sudden regret pass over Jacob's face before he slowly turned around to face the wrath of Renesmee.

Instead of being angry, though, she seemed hurt, like she would cry at any second.

"Look, Nessie," Jake started, but Renesmee cut him off.

"Didn't you imprint on me? Weren't we going to spent forever together? Your pack was finally getting used to the idea, and Dad had already given you permission. You had a ring! You asked me to marry you yesterday!" Renesmee said loudly but sadly.

Jacob hung his head. "You never make me feel special, Renesmee," he said quietly. "All those times in the last few years that I've been trying _so _hard to make you happy, you always brush me off. Even yesterday, when I proposed, you didn't look happy and you didn't answer. You wanted to stay with Fang instead of coming with me. Did you know that I had an entire, serious, romantic night planned for the two of us last night, even if you had refused to marry me?"

I felt sorry for both of them at that moment. Renesmee had broken Jacob's heart the night before, and he had broken hers just now. Either they had unspoken issues, or they were not right for each other.

Jacob met Renesmee's sad, brown eyes. "Last night," he continued, "Max kissed me. Did you ever realize that you never kissed me? Not once. And it's not like I never tried to kiss you; you just always come up with some excuse. I can't deal with this anymore. I want to love you, Nessie. But _you_ pushed _me_ away. Max has let me in. Love works both ways."

"I see…" Renesmee said, pulling her eyes away from Jacob's. She took a deep breath. "Alright, if that's what you want." With that, she turned quickly and headed for the house, obviously trying not to show her sadness.

Jacob sighed. "I'm going to go home now, Max," he said to me.

I hugged him. "I'm sorry Jacob. I'm here if you want to talk about it…or anything else."

"I know you will be, which is more than I can say for Renesmee."


	20. A Single Thought, A Single Destination

**Here you go. It's been a little while, I know. This chapter isn't all that exciting, but it's interesting enough, I think. I fixed it up as best I could, so I hope y'all enjoy it!**

**Disclaimer: I STILL do not own Maximum Ride, Twilight, or Roswell. If I did, this wouldn't be Fanfiction, would it?**

Chapter 20

A Single Thought, a Single Destination

**Fang's POV**

So I found out that my name is Fang…one small step in finding out who I am and where I came from. We had established that I had wings, like Maximum, the blind boy Iggy, the Native-American girl Nudge, and the smaller blond one dubbed the Gasman. I couldn't figure out why we all had messed up names, but Iggy had explained that we named ourselves. I didn't mind having the name Fang, which was probably the reason I had picked it for myself.

The Cullens told me I could interview all of them to see if any of the information they gave me could jog my memory. I agreed. It was worth a shot, after all.

I started with the bronze-haired one named Edward. Everyone else left us alone in the living room. We both sat on the couch.

"So…" It was Edward who spoke first. "What is it that you want to know?"

Hmm. Good question. What exactly _did _I want to know? Truth be told, nothing. I didn't want any part of this. But Maximum had a point; I was a part of…whatever this was whether I wanted to be or not. So, I started with the basics.

"When did you become a vampire?"

He sighed. "That was a long time ago. Carlisle turned me in the year nineteen-eighteen, after I had all but died of the Spanish Influenza."

I blinked at him.

He continued. "I've gone most of my life without anyone else—a partner for eternity, I mean. About nine years ago, I met Bella. She was still human, and she had the sweetest smell I've ever encountered.

"I almost killed her. It was actually my love for her that saved her life. We got married when she was still human and we went on our honeymoon. We were both surprised when she got pregnant."

I raised my eyebrows at him, and he continued, "She had our daughter about a month later. But Renesmee—she's the one who looks as beautiful as her mother and has my hair—was half vampire, and giving birth to her nearly killed Bella. To save her life, I turned her into one of us. She's been living with us ever since."

I blinked.

Next was Carlisle.

"I was changed a long, long time ago by a vampire that we were going to kill. My father was the pastor of our church, and I led some of the vampire hunts to track them down and burn them. This vampire attacked and bit me, and I knew what was coming, so I went and hid as I changed. I stayed hidden from the public for a long time. At one point, I joined a group called the Volturi in Italy, but I left because they believe in feeing on humans."

I stopped listening at 'Italy'. Something in my brain clicked and I remembered something; not exactly a memory, but a destination, a city.

I stood up, suddenly knowing what I had to do. "I'm going to Venice," I announced.

Carlisle stared at me. "What?"

"I…I can't explain it." I looked at him. "But I'm going." I didn't mean to, but I found myself pacing. "I have to get answers. I need to find…something."

Carlisle stood as well. "I'm going to get Maximum…" he said slowly. He left me and went outside.

The blond girl with brown wings came back in with him, followed closely by the native one that I assumed was the werewolf from earlier.

Max took Carlisle's place on the couch. "Have a seat," she said. I listened, though I wasn't sure why. "So…" She shifted. "You remember something about Venice?"

I blinked at her. "Um…Kind of. I guess you could say that."

"Tell me about it." She waited.

I struggled for words. "Well, it's not really—I mean, it's more like…a thought, you know?"

She waited.

I sighed. "I don't know how to explain it."

I felt something on my hand and looked down to see hers resting on it. I looked at her.

Her eyes had grown soft and filled with tears that I somehow knew she was trying to hold back. "Um…Fang, there's something you should know," she said quietly, then took a deep breath. "You, me, Nudge, Gazzy, and Iggy; we weren't the only ones."

"You mean there are more _freaks_ out there?" I asked disbelievingly. I was barely able to deal with myself and the other four. I couldn't imagine there being more.

She winced at my choice of words but continued. "There was one other, a nine-year old named Angel. She…" Max took a shaky breath. "We went to Venice a little more than a month ago, to try to take out the rest of the School—that's where we were held during the experiments—and there was…there was an accident and…"

I waited patiently. It was obvious she was struggling to keep her emotions under control while reliving the memory.

"We lost our little Angel," she finished after taking a deep breath. She looked directly at me. "Now you know. Venice is where our family fell apart. I think that is what you remember."

I looked deep into her eyes, trying to see what it was that she was remembering. But it was no use. I couldn't see any of it.

I pulled my hand away, which I had been awkwardly leaving under hers for her entire story. "Max," I said, "I don't remember you. I don't remember Iggy, Nudge, or Gazzy. I don't know if we're supposed to be together, and I don't know if any of this is even real. I have wings, apparently, and so do you. I'm in the house of a family of vampires, and I was recently attacked by four freakishly large dogs. Speaking of dogs, there's one here that talks and has wings. I don't recognize any of you, and I have no idea if I can trust you or not. I don't know what's going on with me or why I can't remember anything, and even as we speak, I'm fighting panic. I can't even remember my own name, for Pete's sake! So let me ask you this: If I can't remember you, the Cullens, Jacob, the three 'aliens', the dog, or my name, what makes you think I'm going to remember anything about a little girl?"

New tears had formed in her eyes, but she was acting macho and not letting them escape. I suddenly felt bad for what I said and almost apologized, but decided against it. Let's face it: she wasn't exactly being the most supportive person in my time of confusion and misery, and I didn't owe any kindness to her. I didn't even know her.

So instead of apologizing, I changed the subject (I thought it was a pretty smooth move).

"I don't think we're talking about the same thing, and I don't think I can make you understand what's going on in my head. So I'll try my best to explain."

She blinked the tears back into her eyes and waited.

I took a deep breath. "I'm leaving. I have to go to Venice. I'm going to get some answers there. I don't know what kind of answers I'll find, and I don't know why I need those answers, and I don't know how I'm going to get there. But I'm going to Venice, Italy. And I'm leaving now."

I stood, and she did the same. "No you're not," she said.

I faced her, getting just a little frustrated. "Yes, I am. And so help you if you try to stop me."

She laughed, but her eyes remained sad and wet. "Fang, you couldn't get there even if I let you go! You have no idea how to use your wings, Mr. Barrel Roll, and I doubt you could find your way around this place to get to a bus or train. There are no airports for miles in every direction. You haven't got any money for a cab, and I doubt you would survive the trip on foot. Oh, and did I mention that there are mutant cats after us? In your condition, you wouldn't last one day on your own."

I thought about it. She had a point. But what was I supposed to do?

I turned to her. "Then teach me."

She stared at me. "What?"

"Teach me," I repeated. "You know; to fly. I still have my sense of direction, so if I have a map I'll be able to get there. But I need to learn how to fly first, and I think only you can teach me."

It was the honest truth. Yeah, Max kind of scared me, but I felt like we had a connection. I felt like we had been through a lot together, and I guessed that she probably would help me even if she disapproved of my reasons.

She seemed to think about it for a long time before finally she nodded. "Okay. But you have to promise that before you go off rushing into this, you'll think about it good and hard. Honestly Fang, what could possibly be the reason that a kid with no memory of who he is at all would suddenly have the urge to go to a place that, as far as he knows, he has no connection to?"

Hmm. Another good point.

I nodded. "Fine. I'll _think_ about it."

She smiled. "Alright then. Ready for lesson one?"


	21. Waiting, Watching, Window Washing

**I'm pretty sure this is the longest I've ever gone without posting, and I'm really sorry! There were some things I had to work out involving a certain group of aliens before I could continue this story, but I have it worked out now so we're all good. I also started a new story very shortly before I posted chapter 20 about Sonic and Co. going to the Pokemon world and was kind of obsessed with it for a while there, but I get like that with all new stories. I'll try to balance it out, I promise!**

**Disclaimer: The usual. These dudes/dudettes are not mineandIwishtheywerecuzI'dberichandfamousand…I'm rambling. **

Chapter 21

Waiting, Watching, Window Washing

**Michael's POV**

I watched the freak as I had ever since we had first arrived with the Cullens the night before; discreetly and from a distance. It was easy to fade into the background and keep out of anyone's thoughts, as it always had been for me. It was the same when Max, Isabelle, and I lived in Roswell, too. Unless I did something wrong, I went unnoticed. But I wasn't going to do anything wrong now. I was being careful, as were Max and Isabelle.

The dog sat on the porch in his human form, watching Maximum try to teach the bird boy how to properly work his wings while I, too, watched them silently, waiting. We all were.

"Was this their plan?" I heard Isabelle ask from my right. She was focused on the female Max and her boyfriend Fang.

"I don't know. I don't think so," her brother said. "Plans change sometimes."

"We don't even know what their plan was in the first place," Isabelle pointed out. "We just had to find them. We've done that."

"But we haven't reported in," I said. "They don't know we found them. Not unless they've been watching us."

"That would explain how the cats found the kids." Another good point from Isabelle.

I thought about this, not worrying about Edward. He hadn't been able to read our thoughts before, and he wasn't able to now. "Hmm…"

"So what should we do now?" Max asked.

"Now," I said, looking back at _him_ from the concealment of the trees, "we wait."

**Jasper's POV**

I looked out my window again, glancing at the three aliens that stood in the shadows of the trees facing the house. I could tell they were trying to be discreet, but that effort goes wasted when visiting nine vampires with extraordinary vision. Even when Esme, Rosalie, Renesmee, and the bird-kids are out exploring the wondrous land of Forks, someone is still bound to notice you. That someone was me.

Not that it was hard to notice them. Who couldn't? They were aliens, and they were vampires. Edward couldn't hear their thoughts, Alice had never been able to see them in her visions, and now I…

"Jasper?"

I turned. Carlisle was standing in the doorway. "Hi." I turned back to the window and looked out, but the aliens were gone. I sighed, openly showing my uneasiness.

Carlisle joined me at the window. "I've noticed," he said simply.

"What?" I asked, already knowing what he was talking about.

"You," he replied. "Ever since Max, Isabelle, and Michael showed up, you've distanced yourself from them. Is something wrong?"

"Yes," I said.

"What are you picking up from them?"

I looked at him. "That's the problem. When I'm around them, I feel…nothing."

He raised his eyebrows at me. "Nothing?"

"Nothing," I confirmed.

"Hm. Would it be because of their background?"

I shook my head. "No. I've picked up emotions from them before they were turned. Now there's nothing there. It's like they completely stopped feeling anything; love, hatred, sadness, anger, remorse… It's all blank. It's like—"

Carlisle cut me off with a finger on his lips. I knew what he meant. This wasn't the place to talk about it. Not now. With our sensitive hearing, it was possible the aliens were listening in. Them, and just about everyone else except for the winged kids.

"Let's go hunting," Carlisle said. I nodded.

A few minutes later, we were fifty miles away and out of earshot of anyone. We hadn't told anyone that we were leaving, so we were sure we hadn't been followed. Now we could talk.

"Tell me everything," Carlisle said.

I did. "I noticed when we arrived to help Maximum, when Michael seemed angry at us interrupting his meal. I thought it was odd that I couldn't feel his anger. I started paying attention to them, trying to find out why I couldn't sense it. Then I noticed that I couldn't feel any of their emotions. When Max healed Fang, he looked like he felt compassion, but there was nothing there. It's…kind of scary."

Carlisle walked with me, his eyes on the ground and his thoughts obviously on the aliens. "Do you suspect foul play?" he finally asked.

I looked at him, unsure of what to say. I decided to go with the honest truth. "I don't know."

He sighed, troubled with these thought. I was too. Alice couldn't see them, Edward couldn't hear them, and I couldn't feel them. If they _were _up to something, we would have no way of knowing until it was too late.

"What should we do?" I asked.

Carlisle looked directly at me. "For now," he said, "we wait."

**Maximum's POV**

I chuckled as Fang fell out of the air and landed hard on his tail bone again. At least he could move his wings together now. He stopped barrel rolling ten minutes into it and now he could keep himself in the air for a minute at a time, but he kept forgetting to keep flapping.

Fang sat on the ground where he'd landed and sulked. It was so _weird _seeing him act this way. The Fang I knew would never sulk. Then again, the Fang I knew knew he was Fang, too. The new Fang didn't know what the original Fang was like. He didn't remember Fang's feelings or experiences. This Fang was a whole new Fang that Fang would have disapproved of. I wondered if this Fang was the Fang that Fang would be if he wasn't really Fang…

"Would you think about something other than Fang?" Edward asked. "Please?"

I rolled my eyes. "Would you get out of my head?"

"I can't, and it's thoughts like that that make me wish I could."

"Here's a thought for you," I said and got a mental image of the Uber-Director that had tried to auction us off to the highest bidder in Miami a couple years ago; the one that has his organs in clear boxes on a wheelchair.

Edward grimaced at the picture and I laughed, but an annoying voice in my head had to ruin the fun. _"Focus, Max," _it said. _"You don't have time for this. You must help Fang."_

"_Lighten up, Voice," _I replied. _"We don't have to hurry up with anything. We took out most of Itex in Venice."_

"_But you have new enemies," _it pointed out.

"_We also have new friends."_

It was silent for a moment, then said, _"Perhaps, but that is still debatable. You shouldn't trust anyone, Maximum Ride. You can not afford more betrayal."_

"_Then why can I trust you?"_

It stopped talking, just like it always does when I ask a question that I deserve to know the answer to.

I glanced at Edward and knew from his expression that he had heard my conversation with Voice. He would probably want to talk to me about it later. Then I turned to Fang, who was still sulking.

"Get up," I said. "We have to get you flying."

"I can't do it," he said.

I rolled my eyes. "The Fang before you could do it," I told him.

"The Fang before me had _seventeen years_ of experience!" he suddenly exploded.He stood and marched over to me. "Even a real bird takes longer than fifteen minutes to learn how to fly! How am I supposed to learn anything with you only telling me what to do?"

"You asked me to teach you," I said matter-of-factly.

"Yeah, well you're a really bad teacher," he grumbled, turning his back on me.

"You're a really bad student," I countered. "You're not even trying."

"Maybe if _you _were a little more encouraging, I'd get it faster."

I sighed agitatedly. Fang was really starting to get on my nerves. But he had given me an idea. "Iggy!" I called towards the house. He was out in a flash, walking through the door and down the steps with perfect precision. He was already getting used to the grounds, and (believe it or not) we'd only been there a day.

"What's up, Max?" Iggy asked when he reached us.

I glanced at Fang and replied, "Operation Sparrow."

Iggy and I each grabbed one of Fang's arms and spread our wings. Fang looked between us nervously. "Um, Max? Operation Sparrow…W—what does that mean?"

I just smiled and flapped straight down, launching myself into the air. Iggy did the same, and Fang screamed, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!?!?" as his feet left the ground and we climbed further and further into the sky. Ten, twenty, fifty feet! The people on the ground were like pebbles on a sidewalk.

"Do you actually know how birds learn how to fly?" I asked Fang, who was staring disorientedly at the ground.

"Put me down!" he ordered shakily.

"Exactly," I said, and Iggy and I dropped him. "Their parents shove them out of the nest!" I hollered as he plummeted, screaming.

Now, before you think that I'm a terrible person for dropping him, let me just say that…okay, I am a terrible person for dropping him. But how else was he supposed to learn? He already knew how to flap; he just had to put it to use. Besides, I was fast enough to catch him if he couldn't figure it out. And Iggy was right here. So were Jacob, Edward, Emmett and Alice. If something went wrong, any one of us could be there in time to catch him.

"Flap, Fang!" I yelled with a grin. Then I frowned. He wasn't flapping. Sighing, I pointed myself downwards and took off to get Fang before he hurt himself again.

But before I reached him, I was relieved to see a familiar black mass spread out above his back and he abruptly ceased his descent. Instead, I was happy to see he began soaring evenly, allowing the air under his wings to carry him.

"_What do you think of that, Voice?" _I asked smugly. _"See? It's possible to have fun and get the important stuff done, too."_

"_Perhaps. But this changes nothing. You still have much to do, and very little time to do so," _it replied.

"_You always say that."_

"_This time is different. The future depends on it."_

"_Yeah, yeah, yeah. I get it. I'm the protector of the world and mankind _always _depends on me."_

"_It is not only mankind now."_

That threw me a little off-guard. _"What's that supposed to mean?"_

"_Like I said; it's different this time."_

The words echoed through my head even after the Voice ceased conversation. I looked around and caught Edward looking at me with that look again. I don't think he was yet used to the idea of me having a Voice in my head, and I think he worried about me because of it. I sometimes worried about me, too.

"Max!" I heard my name and turned to see Fang looking at me over his shoulder with a goofy grin on his face. "I'm doing it, Max! I'm really doing it! I'm _flying_!"

"Congratulations!" I said over-enthusiastically, then grumbled to myself, "It's not like you ever knew how to before or anything."

I glanced at Edward again and noticed that he also had a goofy grin, while Alice's face was blank and she looked really spaced. When she snapped out of it, she, too, produced a smile before she took off into the house too fast for most human eyes to detect. Edward took off after her immediately, and almost just as quickly came back out with a very high-tech digital camera and focused it up. I saw the red record light come on and barely had time to wonder what he was doing when I heard Fang again.

"Uh…Max?" he said.

I turned to look at him, and noticed that he hadn't changed directions. He was still soaring perfectly straight and picking up speed, except now his balance seemed waver—more out of nervousness than anything else.

"How do I tur—," he was cut off as he slammed face-first into the newly-installed back window/wall.

I had to try really hard to keep from cracking up as Fang's figure was pressed up against the glass wall even closer as he continued to flap, shouting "I don't know how to back up!"

"Then stop flapping and let yourself fall!" I said.

He did, and what followed was too hilarious to contain.

Fang stopped flapping, and from there, began to slide slowly down the glass wall, his hands and face squeaking against the glass. But that wasn't even the best part. I finally realized what Alice and Edward were doing.

Beyond the now Fang-streaked glass, I saw the small form of Alice standing on the second floor, also with a video camera, taping Fang as he slid down the wall. Edward did the same, but from the outside. Past my own laughter, I could here Jacob's and Edwards roars. Emmett said something about a Windex commercial with a raven, but I didn't know what he was talking about. If it had anything to do with TV, I'm a little behind in that field.

When Fang finally reached the ground, he curled up with his arms around his knees and sulked again. I landed lightly beside him. "Don't worry Fang," I said, trying to stop laughing. "You'll get it."

"No I won't." He sounded like some bratty five year old.

"Hey," I said and knelt beside him with my hand on his shoulder. "It's in you somewhere. You're part bird, remember? Look at how well you did just now. Sure, it wasn't the greatest landing, but your soaring was almost as graceful as when you were you."

He sniffled and looked up at me. "Really?"

I nodded and smiled. He smiled back and I got goose-bumps. I had almost forgotten what Fang's smile looked like, how nice it really was. He'd stopped smiling all together after Angel died, and even before that a smile was a rarity. I began to wonder…was it really over for us?

But then I glanced at Jacob, who smiled as well, and I knew that it was. This Fang wasn't the same Fang that I loved. Even the Fang before this one wasn't the Fang I loved. The Fang I loved had been dead for a long time, obviously longer than I even knew, and I could never have him back. I had to move on…I _HAD _moved on. I had Jacob now, and for the first time in months, I was happy. Well, almost happy…

"What's wrong?" Fang's voice pulled me back to reality. I hadn't even realized I'd zoned out or stopped smiling.

I smiled again, but this time it was forced and I think Fang knew it. "Nothing," I lied. He frowned, looking unsure. "Really," I tried to convince him.

He noticed that my glance reverted to Jacob and back to him, and instinctively he did the same. When he turned back to me, he seemed troubled. "Max?" he said.

"Yeah?"

He shifted. "Do…Did I love you?"

Ouch. That question pulled at some rusty heart strings that I had tried to repair a long time ago. It was a question I had asked myself a million times since the night before. Did he love me? Did he _ever _love me? He had responded to that question last night, but I didn't want that to be the answer. I knew it was truth, though.

"No, Fang," I replied, trying to smile and keep the water from building up in my eyes. "You never loved me."

"Did you ever love me?"

I hesitated. "…No," I finally said, denying what my heart screamed. _Yes, I loved you! I loved you forever! But you broke my heart Fang! Broke it! And then you took the pieces and trampled them into the ground! I can't ever be whole now that I've lost Angel and now you! Never! Not even with Jacob…_

I smiled again when I noticed Fang still looked troubled. "Max?" he said again.

"Yeah?"

He sighed shakily. "What am…What _was _I like? What happened to me…to us? Why can't I remember you or Iggy or Nudge or Gazzy or even this Angel that you told me about? Why can't I even remember my own _name _without constantly being reminded?"

I glanced around and noticed that Edward, Emmett, and Jacob had all left; probably to give us some privacy, even if they could hear us from a mile away.

Fang continued, tears welling up in his eyes. "Why can't I remember flying? You talk so much about it, but I can't remember. I have to try so hard just to be able to _flap_! Why can't I remember how I got the scars on my stomach? _Why _do I need to go to Venice? It's too much for me, Max! I can't take this! I don't know how I'm supposed to act, what to say or do. I don't know _anything_! I feel so helpless and stupid, and I need to depend on you for everything! I can't do it, Max! I just _CAN'T_!"

He was hollering now, but he was also sobbing. He looked away from my eyes and shoved his face into his knees. I looked on, not knowing what to say. Finally, I said the only thing I knew to be true.

"Fang," I said gently. He looked at me, tears streaming down his cheeks. "Trust me," I continued, "you don't want to know the answers. You don't _want _to remember our past. You're better off forgetting that any of this ever happened. You're better off not knowing what they did to us, the tortures they put us through, and for what? So they could play God and toy with life itself. You don't want to know, and I don't want you to, either. As for the flock, just know that you can trust them with your life. We've all been through thick and thin together—mostly thick—and we all have each other's back. We're here for you now, Fang, because you need us. And we need you. We've already lost one. We _won't _lose you, too."

New tears fell down his face, and I felt them fall from my eyes, too.

"But Max—" he started.

"No Fang," I said. "I know you're confused and scared, but you're the luckiest of all of us, you know. You can start new. You have a clean slate. Build new memories instead of chasing down the old ones. Have new experiences, find new love." I practically chocked at the last three words, because as true as I knew them to be, I also knew that that love would never again include me.

He looked away again, his sobs subsiding but the tears still falling. "So what do I do now?" he asked quietly, looking up at the grey sky seemed to follow us everywhere we went.

"For now," I said, also looking at the sky, "we all wait…for whatever happens next."


	22. A New Twist

**So…*ahem* Is it too late to ask forgiveness for making you wait so long? …I'MSORRYI'MSORRYI'MSORRYI'MSORRY!!!!!!!!!! I honestly and truly have no idea what happened, but all of a sudden I forgot about this fic completely! You can thank anonymous reviewer Mystery Girl for booting me off my lazy butt and getting me to start/finish this chapter. I felt REALLY bad about leaving it for so long…My only excuse is that I have another fic that a lot more people read and review on, so I was doing that one more cuz it was a boost to my confidence. I'll try to speed up a bit during the summer. Please forgive me and don't kill me because then you'll never get to the end of this! I'm awfully sorry…**

**Disclaimer: Let me check… Nope. I don't own Maximum Ride, Twilight, or Roswell. After three months or however long it's been, that little fact hasn't changed. **

Chapter 22

A New Twist

**Fang's POV**

Finally, I started getting the hang of the whole flying thing. I guess it helped that I'd technically been doing it for seven years, from what Max had told me. But things were still a little overwhelming; such as the fact that I could _fly_ at all.

But Max was right. I had a new chance at life, at making my own memories. I didn't have a dark past to haunt me; just a future I could make better for myself than it would be if I _did_ remember. I had a chance to have new experiences, to fall in love…again?

I frowned from my seat on my bed in the room I was staying in. What had Max meant, "Find new love"? She had seemed so hurt when saying those words. Did…did _I_ hurt her?

"Fang?"

A familiar voice said my name, and I looked over to see the half-vampire Renesmee standing in my doorway.

"Come in," I said, hoping I didn't sound as glum as I thought I did.

She sat down on the bed beside me. "Oh, Fang, I'm so sorry this is happening to you," she said softly.

I met her eyes "Don't be. It's not your fault," I told her. I forced a smile. "I mean, it's not like _you_ sucked away every memory I've ever had."

Renesmee was the one who looked away first. "Fang?" she asked.

"Yeah?"

She hesitated. "…If you could, _would _you take back your memories?"

I looked towards the floor. "I…I don't know," I admitted. "With everything Max told me, I'm not sure I even _want _to remember everything. Maybe…Maybe it's best if I don't, and just try to start over."

"But…" she shifted. "Don't you want to know where you came from? Don't you want to remember your feelings?"

I turned to her, confused. "What are you saying?"

She shrugged, looking sheepish. "I mean, like, wouldn't you want to remember how you and Max felt about each other?"

I stared at her. "How we 'felt about each other'?" I repeated.

Her gaze turned to me. "She didn't tell you?"

"She said we never had feeling like that," I replied.

"Oh…" Renesmee frowned.

"Besides," I added lightly, "she's with Jacob."

"Yeah…I forgot."

She was obviously lying through her teeth.

"You don't like Max much, do you?" I asked.

A grim smile touched her lips. "Is it that obvious?"

I chuckled slightly and said sarcastically, "No, not at _all_."

She laughed openly, a strange light shining in her dark eyes. They shone on the border of sadness and contentment, and I couldn't tell which was more dominant. But looking at her at that moment, I felt _something_.

"You're beautiful," I said without meaning to, immediately regretting it. My cheeks flushed bright red and the blood burned to the surface of my skin when her expression changed from that mixed emotion to another one; this time, embarrassment and surprise.

"Um…thank you," she said quietly, pulling her eyes away. I pushed my lips together before I said something else stupid.

We sat there for a moment in awkward silence, neither knowing what to say, until finally, I couldn't take it anymore. "I'm going out," I muttered, standing and heading for the door.

"Wait—alone?" she asked, sounding worried as she stood and walked after me.

"Yup."

"You can't!" she said desperately. "What if…" She allowed her voice to trail off and pulled her eyes away, looking to the floor.

"What if what?" I pressed on.

She looked up at me. "Could you take someone with you?" she asked quietly. "I…I don't want anything to happen to you again…" She blushed slightly, and added quickly, "You know, because you were alone last time and that's when whatever it was happened that made you lose your memories. We don't need you out lost again with no idea who you are." She chuckled lightly, though her cheeks still burned bright red.

I looked past her and out the window. "I'd rather go alone…"

"Please?"

I dared to look into those deep brown eyes that could make any man do just about anything she asked. I sighed. "Fine. I'll go with…someone."

"Where are you going?" a feminine voice asked from the hall, where my back was facing. I turned to find Maximum and Jacob standing there. Max looked slightly worried, but Jacob just seemed curious.

"Out," I said simply, pushing past them. I found myself angry at Jacob for some reason, feeling as if he had taken something very precious from me. I'd had that feeling towards him since I'd woken up after embarrassingly fainting. It was weird, because I had no idea why. From what everyone had told me, I'd only known him for a day. What could he have done in a day that would cause me to despise him even after losing all my memories?

"You're not going alone," Max said forcefully, grabbing my arm.

"Renesmee and I already established that," I said, kind of annoyed.

"Take Jacob with you."

She just _had _to suggest _him_. "Why?"

"Because he's a werewolf. He can—"

"I don't need protection!" I snapped, ripping my arm out of Max's grip. "I don't need anything! I just need some _space_!"

"Where are you off to?"

I rolled my eyes and faced the stairs, where Carlisle was sauntering up to join us.

"I'm going _out_!" I growled.

"Oh good! Why don't you take Jacob with you?"

I sighed in defeat. I had a feeling that I was fighting a losing battle.

Ten minutes later, I found myself keeping pace with Jacob; me in the air, Jacob on the ground. He could _run_! I didn't know how fast I was flying, but he was neck in neck with me. Well, as neck in neck as you can be when one is flying and one is running. As much as I hated to admit it, this was…kinda fun, regardless of the fact that I wasn't too fond of Jacob.

For a minute, I had actually begun to forget about my current problem, but that was all cut short when a horrible pain suddenly exploded in my temples. Dark spots swam before my eyes, and my wings folded like paper. I dropped like a stone, only partially aware of the wind rushing past my ears because of the voice suddenly whispering in my head.

"_Hello Fang," _a sweet-sounding somewhat familiar female voice sounded in my mind, then it quickly turned cold. _"Hurts, doesn't it?"_

Another blast of pain exploded in my temples, and I dimly heard myself cry out. I managed to squint my eyes open long enough to see the ground rushing up to meet me. But I didn't care; if it took the pain away, bring it on.

A while later, I found that the pain was slowly receding and I could think again. The first thing I wondered was why I was still alive. A fifty foot fall like that should have killed me; especially since last I checked, I was falling head-first. So why was only my head killing me now?

I was then aware of someone calling my name, and I groaned as I realized it was Jacob. I had taken this whole spell in front of _him. _With my luck, he was probably the only reason I was among the living at the moment. Opening my eyes, I saw that I was right. He was shaking my shoulder gently, as if afraid I would break. I blinked and sat up.

"Are you okay? What happened?" he asked, worry lining his features.

I shook my head. "I…I don't know. One minute I was flying, and then…"

Another sharp pain entered my brain and my hands shot to my head as my eyes screwed shut. The voice spoke again, and a fuzzy picture flickered behind my eyelids. _"I spy with my little eye…two freaks in a field. Any guesses, Fangy?" _The girl in my head laughed, and all at once the picture sharpened and I saw…us; me and Jacob, sitting in the small clearing, as though I was looking through someone else's eyes.

My eyes snapped open, despite the pounding in my head, and I whipped around so that I was facing the direction that the scene behind my closed eyes had been shown from. There, standing in the trees' shadows cast by the afternoon sun, were four people. Three I recognized as Michael and Max and Isabelle Evens, but I didn't know the little girl with blond curls and black highlights with them.

"_Don't say that, Fang," _the voice said, sounding hurt. _"We're family. Remember?" _She laughed again, and I realized that the voice must belong to this little girl with the three aliens. "That's right," the girl spoke, finishing what was being played in my head, "you _don't_."

"Who are you?" I heard Jacob ask from behind me. "Max? What's going on? What are you doing?"

Maxwell remained silent and still, as did the other two aliens. The girl was the one to answer. "Their just following orders," she said innocently, stepping out from the shaded area.

When I could see her more clearly in the sun, I gasped at what I saw. The girl looked like a Halloween costume. Black spots at the corners of her eyes and a thin layer of golden fur and black spots told me that she was another mutant; a feline hybrid, from the looks of it. And yet, past all the unbelievable things that a non-mutant wouldn't have, I saw a familiar, scared little girl, as though I had known her a long time ago.

She laughed at my expression. "You had the same reaction last time, Fang," she said sweetly. "I wish I could've been there when Mommy Max realized she'd lost her boyfriend, too. But then again, she was already losing you, wasn't she?"

I climbed to my feet, managing to ignore my throbbing head. "Who are you?" I demanded, more forcefully than Jacob had. "What do you want?"

"Just what we came for," she replied, her voice darker than before. "We want the freak."

Jacob stepped in front of me. "You're not getting him," he said, ice dripping off every word.

The girl laughed again. "Oh, Jakey. Clueless puppy. You can't do anything to stop it."

At that, Max, Michael, and Isabelle jumped out of the shadows and aimed themselves at us.

"Fang, fly!" Jacob shouted before exploding into his wolf form. I obliged gladly, seeing as how I had no fighting experience in my memory. So saying, I spread my huge black wings and took off down the field at a sprint, catching air the way Max had taught me. It wasn't long before I was in the air, flapping with all my might and soaring straight up and into the sky.

A yelp of pain from the ground turned my attention downward to find Jacob barely holding out against the three extra-terrestrial vamps. But I wasn't too worried about him; he could take care of himself. I was more worried about the fact that the creepy little cat girl had suddenly decided to sprout large white wings and take to the skies after me.

I turned as fast as I could and flapped hard, heading in the general direction of the Cullen house. Unfortunately, my fastest obviously wasn't fast enough, because the girl had caught up with me in less than thirty seconds. She came up so fast and unexpectedly that I didn't see how close she was until her black-booted foot connected with my jaw. I was sent flying backwards in the air, but managed to keep my wings flapping and somehow I ended up right-side-up and still in the air and facing my attacker. I turned away from her and flapped hard again, trying to put as much distance between me and her as possible

I mean, she was a little girl; surely no older than ten. I wasn't about to _fight _her. even if she _did_ want to kill me.

"Not so fast," the girl said from above me. I looked up and found that she was keeping pace with my every wing-beat. I guess I was a little out of practice. Duh.

Before I could do anything to evade it, the girl pointed her feet downwards and tucked in her wings, immediately dropping like a rocket. Her boots connected with my back, in the center of my wings, and I cried out in pain as I lost the use of them and began falling the hundred feet towards the ground.

Desperately, I tried again and again to open my wings and flap, but they weren't listening. I was just about ready to meet Death head-on when finally they snapped open, immediately slowing my descent but hurting like crazy. But the decrease in speed was not enough to keep me from slamming into the ground _really_ hard.

As I pushed myself shakily to my hands and knees, biting my lip to keep from crying, I heard another yelp from Jacob and looked over to see him fall heavily on his side, panting. He didn't get back up. The three alien-vampires looked at me from where they stood around Jacob, and the girl that seemed to lead them landed halfway between them and me. As a unit, the four of them moved towards me with an elegance that only comes with confidence of victory.

Now I was panicking. With Jacob down and my memories gone, I stood no chance against them. I wouldn't stand a chance against a _beetle_.

Okay, so maybe I _would_ stand a chance against a beetle. But certainly not against these four.

I clambered to my feet as the four approached, once again finding this surrealism hard to grasp.

"Good job, Ariel," the friend-turned-enemy Michael said. "You managed to do something right."

The blond girl—Ariel, I presume—froze in her step, then turned to Michael with a look of murder in her eyes as she quivered with rage. "When have you known me to do something _wrong_?" she asked coldly, daring him to continue before turning back to me.

"You see, Fangy?" she asked, but I wasn't fooled by her sweet voice. "It isn't easy to save the world. Some things should just be left alone. You should never have gone to fight Itex. The world was fine just the way it was. If you and Max had left things as they were, none of this would have ever happened." She smiled sweetly as she stepped up to me. "And if you and Maxie hadn't had that fight, you would still know me." She laughed, but I barely noticed.

_Fight? What fight? What is she talking about? _I thought through my panic.

She laughed again, and as though reading my mind, she said, "Aw, Max didn't tell you? You two—"

"Ariel," Isabelle said, cutting her off.

Ariel turned on her, snarling out, "_What?_" but the alien stood unfazed.

"They're coming. Just like you said they would."

"Ah…" the blond girl turned back to me, with a smug smile on her lips. "Sorry, Fangy, but it looks like I'll have to tell you about it later. Right now, we gotta jet."

Before I could even say anything in response, Michael stretched out his hand towards me and, as Ariel jumped into the air and spread her wings to get out of range, a fiery explosion went off where she had been standing ten feet from me a second before. The shockwave sent me flying backwards as debris scratched and burned my face and arms. I landed hard against the base of a tree, smacking my head against the trunk. White dots exploded across my vision, and I barely saw the little girl Ariel looming over me, shadows covering most of her features. A voice whispered in my head, accompanied by another blast of pain in my temples that succeeded in fading the white to blackness: _"Nightie night, Fang…"_

I closed my eyes.

**Oooo we're getting further into the plot now! The story is beginning to unravel! Answers are finally on their way! Please review!**

**Now I have something very important to say. I do not ever want anyone to think that I will stop writing one fic just because another has become far more popular. I do not write these fics for the amount of readers I have, but rather because I want to write them for **_**me**_**. I don't care if everyone else hates them; if I like the story, I will write and finish the story. Never will I start a story and then completely discontinue it. Some day, I might take down a story that only has one chapter, work on it, then put it back up, but I will never cease a fic that I have already posted. I say all this because I have received a review from someone who will not be mentioned telling me that no one cares about a couple of my fics and that I should stop writing those because another one is really popular. I just want you all to know that saying stuff such as that will only make me take even longer to update on the story I am basically told to write. I plan on finishing every fic I start on here, and the only thing that could stop me from doing so would be if I lost the use of my hands or if I died. I can not say how long it will take me to finish them, but you can rest assured that I **_**will**_**.**


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